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The  National  Social  Science  Series 

Edited  by  Frank  L  McVey,  PhJ).,  LLD,, 
President  of  the  University  of  Sorth  Dakota 

In  Prepratlon 
SOCIOLOGY.    John  M.  Giuxtte 
PROPERTY  AND  SOCIETY.     A    ^    RtucE 
STATISTICS.    W.  R  Baiixy 
BASIS  OF  COMMERCE.    E.  V.  Romnson 

WOMEN  WORKERS  AND  SOQETY.    Aknii  M. 

MacLean 

nn:   newspaper  as  a  social  factor. 

Allan  D.  Albott 

fTHE    STRUGGLE    FOR    LAND    IN    AMERICA. 
Chailes  W.  Holman 

IIODERN  PHIL.\NTHROPY.    Eugene  T.  Lns 

ESSENTIALS   OF   FOREIGN    TRADE.     John    F. 
Cbowell 


The  American  City^ 

AN 

OUTLINE  OF  ITS  DEVELOPMENT 

AND  FUNCTIONS 


BY 

Henry  C.  Wright 

First  Deputy  Commissioner,  Department  of  Public 

Charities,  Nenv  York  City;  Formerly  of 

the  Russell  Sage  Foundation 


^  CHICAGO 

/A.  C.  McCLURG  &  CO, 
1916 


«^;?Y 


Copyright 

A.  C.  McCLURG  &  CO. 

1916 


Published  February,  1916 


Copyrighted  in  Great  Britain 


W.  f.   HALL  PRINTING  COMPANY,  CHICAGO 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE 

THE  city  is  a  social  phenomenon  that  we  do 
not  know  a  great  deal  about.  Many 
things  are  written  concerning  cities  and  the 
things  that  happen  in  them,  but  few  books 
explain  cities  in  their  social  aspects.  This 
book,  necessarily,  in  its  limited  scope,  cannot 
go  into  all  the  phases  of  city  life,  but  it  does 
attempt  to  get  at  some  of  the  real  problems  of 
the  urban  community.  Dr.  Wright  has  had 
a  long  and  intimate  connection  with  municipal 
affairs  in  New  York  City,  which  has  given 
him  an  interesting  and  valuable  viewpoint  that 
finds  expression  in  this  little  volume. 

F.L.M. 


333777 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE 

IN  writing  this  book  the  general  reader,  rather 
than  the  student,  has  been  kept  in  mind.  It 
is  designed  to  be  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  city; 
a  broad  outline  of  the  functions  performed  by 
people  grouped  together  into  a  city,  the  things 
they  find  it  necessary  or  advantageous  to  do 
that  are  not  done  by  a  like  number  of  people 
scattered  through  a  country  district.  It  is  the 
hope  of  the  author  that  the  book  will  stimulate 
thought  on  the  city  as  a  social  and  govern- 
mental factor;  that  it  will  prompt  the  reader 
to  question  whether  or  not  the  growth  of  cities 
should  be  encouraged  or  discouraged. 

H.  C.  W. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Chapter  I.    The  Location  and  Purpose  of  Cities  1 

1.  Early  Cities 2 

2.  Location  of  Cities 3 

3.  The  Reason  for  Cities 5 

4.  Summarized  Statement 14 

Chapter  II.     Government .•  ^^ 

K  Powers  Residing  in   Governments  Muni- 
cipal        17 

2.  New  York 21 

3.  Chicago 23 

4.  Philadelphia       25 

5.  St.  Louis 27 

6.  Boston       28 

7.  Forms  of  Municipal  Government     ...  30 

8.  The   Council 37 

9.  Conclusion 39 

Chapter  III.     Finances  of  Cities 41 

1.  Income 43 

2.  Direct  Property  Tax 43 

3.  Process  of  Levying  Taxes 46 

4.  Licenses 49 

5.  Rentals 50 

6.  Franchises 51 

7.  Expenditures 53 

8.  Permanent  Improvements 58 

9.  Audit  and  Control  of  Expenditures    .    .  59 
10.  Publicity        61 

Chapter  IV.    Protection  of  Property,  Life,  and 

Health 63 

1.  Protection  of  Property  and  Life     ...  63 

2.  Protection  of  Health 74 

Chapter  V.    Education  and  Instruction  ....  92 

1.  Organization   and   Administration     ...  92 

2.  The  City  and  Other  Local  Schools  ...  94 

3.  The  Curriculum 98 

4.  Teachers 101 


Contents 


PAGE 

5.  High  Schools 102 

6.  Vocational  Education 104 

7.  Evening  Schools       107 

8.  Public  Lectures 110 

9.  Libraries 110 

10.  Art  Galleries  and  Museums 112 

11.  Zoological  Gardens  and  Collection  .     .     .113 

12.  Defective  and  Sub-normal  Children  .     .     .114 

13.  Young  Men's  Christian  Association     .     .116 

14.  Technical  Education 117 

15.  General    i 118 

Chapter  VI.    Municipal  Undertakings    .    .    .    .120 

1.  The  Problem  of  Public  Utilities    ....  120 

2.  State    Regulation       .     .     .    ,. 123 

3.  Comparisons    of    Publicly    and    Privately- 

Owned  Public  Utilities 126 

Chapter  VII.     Housing,  Transit,  and  Location 

of  Factories 155 

1.  Congestion  of  Population 155 

2.  Rapid  Transit  a  Relief  for  Congestion     .  159 

3.  Influence  of  Character  of  Dwelling  upon 

Citizenship 160 

Chapter  VIII.    The  Effect  of  the  City  upon  its 

Citizens 162 

1.  Inheritance  of  Good  and  Bad  Traits    ,    .  162 

2.  Mixing  of  Races  in  Cities     ......  164 

3.  The   City   Calls  Forth  the  Best  and  the 

Worst 165 

4.  The  City  Stifles  the  Mind  of  the  Child    .  166 

5.  Something   More    than   Parks   and   Play- 

grounds Needed 169 

6.  Removal  of  Factories 170 

References 173 

Index       -.175 


THE  AMERICAN  CITY 


THE  AMERICAN  CITY 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  LOCATION  AND  PURPOSE  OF  CITIES 

A  N  understanding  of  the  origin  of  cities 
•^  ^  helps  in  gaining  a  clearer  insight  into  the 
character  they  have  subsequently  assumed. 
The  present  outward  form  of  many  European 
cities  could  not  be  understood  were  it  not 
known  that  what  is  now  their  central  portion 
was  at  an  earlier  period  entirely  surrounded  by 
a  wall. 

The  ancient  wall  barrier  of  Paris,  though 
long  since  destroyed,  yet  today  has  its  influence 
upon  the  transit  system  of  the  enlarged  city. 
Some  of  the  movements  of  Revolutionary 
troops  in  and  about  Boston  can  be  understood 
only  through  a  knowledge  of  its  early  water- 
ways which  subsequently  have  been  filled  and 
occupied  by  buildings.  The  street  system  of 
New  York  City  cannot  be  understood  without 
a  knowledge  of  its  early  commercial  life  and 
shipping  facilities.  A  knowledge  of  how  cities 
came  to  be  and  what  they  did  in  their  earlier 
years  is  necessary  to  a  full  understanding  of 
I 


/J2  : :.'  \y  { * ;. '  *  7^e [  American  City 

their   outward    form,   their   government   and 
their  activities  today. 

/.  Early  Cities 

Life  in  all  civilized  countries  today  is  so  well 
guarded  that  living  on  the  soil  is  not  fraught 
with  danger.  In  early  days  neighboring  tribes 
were  oftentimes  enemies,  and  bandits  roamed 
at  will.  Under  such  conditions,  it  was  neces- 
sary for  the  people  to  congregate  for  mutual 
protection.  Tillers  of  the  soil  lived  in  commu- 
nities, and  daily  went  to  the  neighboring  land 
to  sow  seed  and  reap  their  harvests.  Some  of 
these  communities,  when  grown  to  sufficient 
size  and  importance,  built  a  wall  about  their 
circumference,  and  a  moat  beyond  the  wall. 
Thus  protected,  they  lived  in  greater  security 
and  peace  of  mind.  Such  a  condition  prevailed 
throughout  Europe  until  the  Middle  Ages,  and 
even  today  vestiges  of  some  of  the  walls  may 
be  seen. 

The  dwellers  in  the  earliest  cities  in  the 
United  States,  founded  by  Spaniards,  sought 
protection  by  erecting  walls  and  by  locating 
their  settlements  at  a  distance  from  the  coast. 
The  settlement  of  St.  Augustine  feared  the 
Indians,  but  much  more  the  pirates,  who  could 
come  in  boats  without  warning.  Pirate  bands 
carrying  a  small  fighting  force  ventured  but  a 
short  distance  inland.     Consequently,  a  city 


Location  and  Purpose  of  Cities         3 

located  some  distance  from  the  shore  had  little 
to  fear  from  these  robbing  sea  rovers.  When 
settlements  were  made  along  the  north  Atlantic 
coast,  the  pirates  had  ceased  to  be  a  menace, 
and  only  Indians  were  feared.  Settlements 
could  then  be  made  safely  on  the  immediate 
coast  with  only  the  Indians  as  possible  foes. 
From  these,  protection  was  sought  by  con- 
structing a  palisade  of  sharpened  logs.  Such 
protection  was  abolished  as  the  communities 
grew  in  size,  and  were  able  to  protect 
themselves  through  the  presence  of  superior 
numbers. 

2.  Location  of  Cities 

Before  the  invention  of  the  locomotive, 
and  before  the  development  of  railroads, 
cities  were  of  necessity  located  at  points  most 
accessible  by  water.  Coastwise  settlements 
were  generally  founded  at  the  head  of  harbors 
into  which  rivers  emptied.  Examples  of  such 
settlements  are  Boston,  New  London,  and  New 
York.  These  cities  not  only  served  as  points 
of  transshipment  for  goods  brought  in  ocean 
vessels,  but  also  as  points  of  departure  for  the 
smaller  crafts  which  distributed  the  goods 
along  the  rivers  to  inland  settlements.  These 
river  settlements,  in  turn,  were  points  of  ex- 
change between  the  back-lying  country  and  the 
river-shipping  centres.    The  pioneers,  in  push- 


The  American  City 


ing  westward  from  the  coast,  followed  the 
rivers  until  the  territory  adjacent  to  the  rivers 
was  occupied.  Thus  was  the  territory  first 
occupied  along  the  Merrimac,  Charles,  Thames, 
Connecticut,  Housatonic,  Hudson,  Mohawk, 
Delaware,  Susquehanna,  Potomac,  and  the 
James  rivers,  and  Chesapeake  Bay.  From 
these  rivers  and  bays,  settlers  made  their 
way  inland  to  other  water  courses,  such  as  the 
Great  Lakes  and  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
rivers. 

In  the  early  days,  before  the  steam  engine 
was  developed,  water  power  was  the  only  means 
of  operating  power  machinery.  Then  swift 
rivers  were  used  to  turn  water-wheels.  Towns 
grew  around  mills.  Settlements  multiplied 
along  such  streams  as  the  Merrimac,  the  Paw- 
tucket,  the  Housatonic,  the  upper  Hudson,  and, 
later,  on  the  banks  of  a  multitude  of  tributary 
streams  and  western  rivers.  Rochester  and 
Minneapolis  are  illustrations  of  cities  located 
in  this  manner. 

To  and  through  these  cities,  already  located, 
the  railroads  subsequently  built  were  run.  So 
it  was  that  settlements  originally  located  on 
waterways,  because  of  the  shipping  facilities  or 
the  water  power,  were  developed  into  cities  by 
the  railroads,  which  furnished  a  quicker  means 
of  transportation.  St.  Paul  when  located  was 
at  the  head  of  navigation  of  the  Mississippi, 


Location  and  Purpose  of  Cities         5 

and  heavy  boat  traffic  to  and  from  St.  Paul 
developed.  St.  Paul  has  grown  into  a  large 
city,  owing  its  development  to  the  railroads 
rather  than  to  the  river  traffic. 

The  railroad  has  converted  small  cities  into 
large  ones,  and  also  has  been  the  prime  cause  in 
locating  some  of  the  present  large  cities ;  such 
as  Atlanta,  Birmingham,  Columbus,  Indian- 
apolis, Grand  Rapids,  Springfield,  111.,  Des 
Moines,  Denver,  and  Salt  Lake  City  may  be 
noted.  These  cities  are  not  on  navigable 
streams,  and  probably  would  not  have  attained 
the  dignity  of  cities  without  the  aid  of  the 
railroad. 

5.  The  Reason  for  Cities 

People  gather  together  and  form  cities 
chiefly  for  five  purposes:  (a),  for  garrisoning 
and  bartering;  (b),  for  manufacturing;  (c), 
for  mining;  (d),  for  social  intercourse;  (e), 
for  government. 

(a)  Barter,  Garrisons,  and  Posts. —  The 
earliest  settlements  in  the  United  States  had 
for  their  chief  motive  of  existence,  besides  that 
of  mutual  protection,  barter  and  exchange. 
Manufacturing  had  developed  in  but  a  minor 
degree.  Manufactured  articles  were  largely 
imported  from  Europe,  and  exchanged  at  the 
seaport  settlements  for  products  of  the  soil. 
Tobacco  of  Virginia  was  exchanged  for  the 


The  American  City 


textiles  of  England.  Frontier  posts  were  estab- 
lished for  the  purpose  of  protecting  frontiers 
and  for  trading  in  furs.  Such  were  Pitts- 
burgh, Detroit,  Vincennes,  and  St.  Louis. 
These  posts  were  necessarily  fortified,  and 
became  forts  controlling  large  contributory  ter- 
ritory. Though  they  were  primarily  military 
posts,  yet  they  soon  developed  trade  with  the 
Indians  and  with  subsequent  settlers.  All  of 
the  coast  and  frontier  settlements,  though  orig- 
inally devoted  almost  exclusively  to  barter, 
later,  as  machinery  was  imported  or  invented, 
started  manufacturing. 

Today  none  of  the  cities  of  the  United 
States  are  devoted  exclusively  to  barter.  Even 
the  coast  cities,  such  as  New  York  and  Boston, 
though  prominently  import  and  export  points, 
have  yet  developed  extensive  manufacturing. 
New  York  City  ranks  first  in  the  value  of 
products  manufactured,  and  in  addition  ex- 
ports and  imports  more  than  Boston  and  Phila- 
delphia combined.  Chicago  when  founded  was 
almost  solely  a  community  for  barter;  later, 
however,  it  became  also  a  manufacturing  cen- 
tre, and  today  ranks  second  in  manufactured 
products. 

Barter  may  take  the  form  of  receiving  and 
distributing  goods  from  foreign  ports,  or  of 
the  wholesaling  or  retailing  of  domestic  prod- 
ucts.    The  coastwise  cities  naturally  are  de- 


Location  and  Purpose  of  Cities  7 

voted  more  largely  to  the  first  form  of  barter. 
Wholesale  trade  takes  place  in  most  cities  of  a 
population  of  10,000  or  more.  These  cities  are 
scattered  widely  over  the  entire  country.  To 
these  centres  manufacturers  and  producers 
send  their  goods  to  jobbers,  who  distribute 
them  to  the  merchants  in  smaller  towns,  who, 
in  turn,  retail  them  to  the  consumers.  Any  city 
with  good  transportation  facilities,  whether 
located  on  a  waterway  or  a  railroad,  may  carry 
on  extensive  wholesale  trade.  Each  of  such 
cities  controls  trade  within  a  zone  of  a  few 
hundred  miles.  Such  centres  may  be  illustrated 
by  Cincinnati,  Indianapolis,  Chicago,  St.  Louis, 
Omaha,  and  Denver.  As  the  speed  of  railroad 
trains  has  increased  and  express  facilities  have 
improved,  these  centres  have  enlarged  their 
zones  of  trade. 

The  largest  cities  are  not  only  points  of 
exchange  and  wholesale  traffic,  but  they  are 
also  office  centres.  Manufacturers  maintain 
offices  in  such  cities  as  New  York  and  Chicago, 
where  sales  are  made  but  goods  are  not  carried. 
Shipments  are  made  direct  from  the  factory, 
which  may  be  located  many  hundreds  of  miles 
away.  This  method  of  barter  has  been  greatly 
increased  by  the  organization  of  trusts.  Trusts 
usually  control  plants  in  various  parts  of  the 
country,  but  centralize  sales  in  one  or  a  few 
centres.    This  may  be  aptly  illustrated  by  the 


8  The  ^American  City 

so-called  Steel  Trust,  which  makes  a  large  pro- 
portion of  its  sales  from  New  York  City, 
though  most  of  its  mills  are  in  the  middle  West. 
The  so-called  Sugar  Trust  has  refineries  in 
several  cities,  but  makes  its  sales  chiefly  from 
New  York  and  Chicago.  Many  producers, 
such  as  manufacturers  of  automobiles,  main- 
tain agencies  in  all  good-sized  cities.  This 
method  of  conducting  business  develops  in 
cities  offices  wherein  orders  are  received,  but 
the  goods  are  not  kept  in  stock.  The  many 
towering  office  buildings  of  New  York  City 
are  largely  explained  by  this  method  of  con- 
ducting business.  Few  large  manufactories 
are  without  their  representatives  in  New  York 
City. 

Another  factor  which  contributes  to  the  size 
|of  barter  cities  is  the  advantage  of  concentrat- 
'  ing  grain  in  large  elevators.  Were  grain  stored 
in  small  elevators  adjacent  to  the  district  in 
which  it  is  produced,  there  to  remain  until 
required  for  consumption,  it  would  be  difficult 
to  secure  it  as  needed  by  the  milling  industry. 
For  uniformity  of  operation,  it  becomes  neces- 
sary to  store  large  quantities  of  grain  in  huge 
elevators  where  it  is  immediately  available. 
Thus  we  find  many  millions  of  bushels  of 
wheat  and  other  grains  stored  in  Chicago,  Min- 
neapolis, St.  Louis,  and  other  shipping  and 
milling  centres. 


Location  and  Purpose  of  Cities         g 

(h)  Manufacturing  Centers. —  Though  most 
cities  of  fair  size  have  many  wholesale  estab- 
lishments for  the  sale  of  articles  not  locally 
made,  yet  a  larger  contributing  factor  in  build- 
ing the  city  are  the  facilities  there  found  for 
carrying  on  manufacturing. 

Few  factories  are  located  outside  of  cities. 
An  abundant  labor  supply  is  one  of  the  first 
considerations  in  the  location  of  a  factory. 
Strikes  are  always  a  possibility,  and,  in  case  of 
such  a  contingency,  it  is  imperative  that  labor 
to  take  the  place  of  the  strikers  be  readily  ob- 
tainable. Such  a  supply  is  found  only  in  cities, 
where  many  laborers  are  seeking  employment. 

The  suburbs  of  a  city,  or  the  smaller  cities 
adjacent  to  a  large  city,  from  the  standpoint  of 
manufacturing  need,  may  be  considered  a  part 
of  the  large  city.  The  ease  of  transit  between 
the  population  centers  enables  manufacturers 
to  draw  from  labor  centers  in  times  of  great 
need.  A  fair  illustration  of  this  condition  is 
Cincinnati,  with  the  many  smaller  cities  within 
an  hour's  railroad  journey.  Each  of  these 
smaller  cities  is  a  manufacturing  center  and 
draws  material  and  labor  supplies  from  Cin- 
cinnati when  needed. 

The  ease  of  purchasing  material  and  parts 
is  another  factor  in  locating  factories  in  cities. 
Few  factories  make  all  parts  entering  into  the 
machine  or  product  which  they  manufacture. 


lo  The  American  City 

It  is  more  economical  to  purchase  certain  parts 
from  other  specialized  factories.  For  instance, 
a  manufacturer  of  automobiles  is  likely  to  pur- 
chase bearings,  gears,  and  some  fittings.  Fac- 
tories producing  these  specialties  tend  to  locate 
near  their  chief  market,  i.  e.,  in  a  city  having 
many  automobile  factories.  Detroit  is  such  a 
city. 

Good  shipping  facilities  are  a  prime  requi- 
,  site.  A  factory  served  by  but  one  railroad  is 
'  likely  to  receive  poor  service  both  in  freight 
rates  and  in  the  supply  of  cars.  Railroads 
seldom  center  at  one  point  unless  that  point 
has  already  become  a  city.  To  get  good  ship- 
ping facilities  usually  necessitates  locating  in 
or  near  a  city  of  some  size. 

The  location  of  a  factory  in  a  city  often 
obviates  the  necessity  of  maintaining  a  separate 
office  and  display  room.  When  so  located, 
patrons  can  easily  visit  the  factory.  Moreover, 
buyers  are  quite  inclined  to  purchase  in  centers 
where  several  or  many  articles  which  they  de- 
sire are  produced.  Thus,  time  and  expense  are 
saved  to  purchasers  by  centering  factories  at 
one  point.  Iron- working  machinery  centers  at 
Cincinnati  and  adjacent  towns;  each  new  con- 
cern locating  there  gains  some  advertising  ad- 
'.  vantages  from  the  reputation  of  the  place  as 
the  headquarters  for  such  machinery.  Collar 
factories  find  it  advantageous  to  locate  in  Troy, 


Location  and  Purpose  of  Cities        ii 

and  glove  producers  in  Gloversville  for  the 
same  reason.  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan,  first 
began  manufacturing  furniture  because  of  the 
proximity  of  hard  wood.  Though  the  wood 
in  nearby  sections  has  been  exhausted,  yet  the 
original  factories  have  drawn  others  until  this 
city  is  known  above  all  others  in  the  United 
States  as  a  center  for  the  production  of 
furniture. 

A  local  market  is  also  a  prime  consideration 
in  some  lines  of  manufacturing.  Many  fac- 
tories in  such  large  cities  as  New  York  and 
Chicago  dispose  of  nearly  their  entire  output 
locally.  This  is  especially  true  of  such  lines 
as  printing,  bakery  products,  clothing,  leather 
goods,  etc. 

The  site  selected  for  a  city  may  depend  on 
many  factors  not  mentioned  above.  Accessi- 
bility to  the  raw  material  used  is  of  prime  con- 
sideration. Iron  mills  in  and  near  Pittsburgh 
have  at  hand  coal,  lime,  and  iron  ore,  the  three 
main  ingredients  in  producing  pig  iron.  The 
same  may  be  said  of  Birmingham,  Alabama. 
Box  factories  are  located  in  Portland,  Maine, 
because  of  the  soft  wood  timber  in  that  state. 
Some  factories  are  by  design  located  in  cities 
midway  between  sources  of  raw  material.  Iron 
ore  shipped  down  the  Great  Lakes  meets  at 
Cleveland,  Lorain,  and  Gary,  coal  from  Ohio 
and  Indiana.    Such  a  location  does  not  require 


12  The  American  City 

a  transshipment  of  the  iron  ore.  Cotton  mills 
are  fast  locating  in  southern  cities  near  the  cot- 
ton belt. 

Factories  utilizing  water  power  must  also 
have  access  to  railroads  or  navigable  streams 
for  the  delivery  of  their  product.  Great  Falls, 
Montana,  was  known  for  many  years  as  a 
waterfalls  of  great  power,  but  not  until  rail- 
roads reached  the  territory  was  the  power  de- 
veloped and  a  city  built.  The  city  of  Great 
Falls  now  has  a  population  of  about  30,000. 
Such  cities  as  Rochester,  New  York,  and  Min- 
neapolis, not  only  furnish  abundant  water 
power,  but  also  excellent  railroad  facilities. 
Many  valuable  waterfalls  are  not  now  utilized 
because  of  the  absence  of  railroads  in  the 
vicinity. 

(c)  Mining  Cities. —  Mines  at  times  promote 
the  building  of  cities.  This  has  been  the  case 
with  Butte,  Montana,  which  in  1870  had  but 
about  ^00  population,  and  in  1880,  after  the 
development  of  mines,  had  a  population  of 
10,723.  Dawson  City,  Yukon  Territory,  has 
increased  from  a  few  shacks  to  a  city  of  1 1,000 
population.  Such  cities  are  almost  solely  de- 
pendent upon  the  mines  for  support.  If  the 
mineral  gives  out,  the  city  is  deserted.  Such 
was  the  fate  of  Virginia  City,  Nevada,  near 
the  famous  Comstock  lode.  It  had  a  popula- 
tion of  10,917  in  1880.    The  mine  greatly  de- 


Location  and  Purpose  of  Cities        13 

creased  in  its  production,  and  the  city  dwindled 
to  2,700  in  1900.  A  like  fate  attended  Eureka, 
Nevada;  from  a  population  of  4,200  it  dwin- 
dled down  to  800.  Helena  is  much  smaller 
today  than  thirty  years  ago,  and  was  only 
saved  from  obliteration  by  being  made  the 
capital  of  the  state. 

(d)  Social  Centers. —  People  closely  grouped 
together  into  a  city  make  it  possible  to  maintain 
many  institutions  that  cannot  be  supported  by 
a  small  community.  Cities  of  even  moderate 
size  maintain  libraries,  theatres,  musicals,  lec- 
ture courses.  These  advantages  attract  to  the 
city  many  persons  who  otherwise  might  be  con- 
tent to  remain  in  rural  districts.  Colleges, 
technical  schools,  trade  schools,  find  it  advisa- 
ble to  locate  in  cities  or  very  near  them,  that 
the  students  may  have  the  advantage  of  libra- 
ries, theatres,  and  public  functions.  Large 
cities  like  New  York,  Boston,  and  Chicago  pos- 
sess valuable  additional  institutions,  such  as 
art  museums,  natural  history  museums,  zoolog- 
ical parks,  and  botanical  gardens.  The  leading 
specialists,  writers,  statesmen,  may  be  heard  in 
such  centers. 

Social  intercourse  among  those  of  like  tastes 
is  not  the  least  of  the  attractions  of  large  cities. 
Here  gather  talented  musicians,  artists,  novel- 
ists, scientists,  propagandists.  Each  stimulates 
the  others  to  better  effort.    To  meet  the  man 


14  The  American  City 

of  talent  in  person  is  a  stimulus  to  those  striv- 
ing to  emulate. 

Some  cities  are  based  on  the  recreational 
advantages  offered.  The  support  of  such  cities 
as  Atlantic  City  and  Palm  Beach  is  derived 
almost  solely  from  the  visitors  seeking  rest  or 
amusement.  The  number  visiting  these  cities 
is  sufficiently  constant  to  warrant  the  erection 
of  large  hotels,  expensive  piers,  well  equipped 
supply  stores. 

(e)  Governmental  Cities. —  A  few  cities  are 
chiefly  supported  by  governmental  officers  and 
employees.  This  is  notably  true  of  Washing- 
ton. No  other  city  in  the  United  States  is  so 
distinctly  a  governmental  city  as  Washington. 
Occasionally  a  city  is  built  around  a  capital 
arbitrarily  located.  Usually,  however,  factories 
spring  up  in  such  cities,  and  after  a  period  of 
years  they  come  to  have  the  same  general  char- 
acteristics as  non-governmental  cities.  This 
was  true  of  Columbus,  Ohio.  Today  it  is 
chiefly  a  manufacturing  city,  though  originally 
supported  almost  solely  by  governmental  em- 
ployees. 

4.  Summarised  Statement 

No  settlement  can  attain  the  size  of  a  city 
without  reasonably  adequate  transportation 
facilities.  It  must  be  located  on  navigable 
water,  or  be  served  by  one  or  more  railroads. 


Location  and  Purpose  of  Cities        15 

Whatever  its  chief  cause  or  character,  whether 
a  city  for  barter,  manufacture,  mining,  social 
intercourse,  or  for  government,  it  must  be  ac- 
cessible by  water  or  by  rail.  The  location  of 
cities  thus  is  dependent  upon  transportation 
facilities,  and  the  causes  may  be  classified  under 
one  or  more  of  the  above-indicated  factors. 


CHAPTER  II 

GOVERNMENT 

UNTIL  comparatively  recently  the  concep- 
tion of  the  function  of  government  was 
an  organization  for  the  purpose  of  protecting 
property  and  life.  The  protection  of  property 
was  emphasized  more  than  the  guarding  of  life. 
Even  as  late  as  the  eighteenth  century  the  laws 
in  England  considered  property  of  greater  im- 
portance than  life.  The  death  penalty  was 
imposed  for  two  hundred  offenses.  Theft  in  a 
dwelling  house  to  the  amount  of  forty  shil- 
lings, or,  in  a  shop,  of  goods  to  the  amount 
of  five  shillings,  was  punishable  with  death. 
The  debtor  was  imprisoned  for  minor  obliga- 
tions. 

One  of  the  results  of  the  Reformation  and 
subsequent  religious  movements,  such  as  that 
led  by  John  Wesley,  was  the  laying  of  new 
emphasis  upon  the  individual  and  his  rights. 
The  life  of  the  individual,  whether  of  the  lower 
or  higher  classes,  took  on  a  new  significance 
and  worth.  Property  rights  gradually  became 
subordinated  to  the  right  to  life  and  individual 
freedom.  A  change  in  laws  followed  these 
new  conceptions  and  values.  The  number  of 
i6 


Government  17 


offenses  punishable  by  a  forfeiture  of  life  was 
reduced.  The  poor  became  objects  of  interest ; 
they  were  looked  upon  as  having  human  feel- 
ings to  be  ministered  to.  A  conception  of  life 
as  something  of  value  led  gradually  to  a  realiza- 
tion that  it  should  be  conserved  as  well  as  pro- 
tected. Such  was  the  degree  of  consideration 
given  to  the  individual  at  the  time  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  was  established. 

I.  Powers  Residing  in  Municipal 
Governments 

Prior  to  the  Revolution  twenty  boroughs 
received  charters  from  colonial  officials  of  the 
English  government.  After  the  establishment 
of  American  independence  the  various  states 
adopted  constitutions,  and  municipalities  were 
brought  under  the  rule  of  the  legislature,  which 
granted  all  charters  by  special  acts,  and 
bestowed  limited  powers,  which  were  ex- 
tended as  application  was  made  by  the  munici- 
palities. 

As  time  passed  the  states  began  to  take  the 
initiative  in  enacting  laws  for  municipalities. 
In  some  cases  this  was  necessitated  by  the  mis- 
behavior of  council  bodies,  or  because  of  other 
local  conditions  calling  for  reform.  By  the 
middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  such  activity 
of  the  legislatures  had  reached  the  point  of 
interference    in    the    administration    of    the 


1 8  The  American  City 

municipalities,  and  became  in  consequence  ex- 
tremely pernicious  in  many  instances. 

This  interference  was  mostly  the  work  of  a 
dominant  political  party  or  faction  in  which 
local  and  state  politicians  many  times  joined 
for  the  furtherance  of  some  selfish  object.  In 
some  cases  large  financial  obligations  were  im- 
posed upon  a  city  for  local  public  works, 
regardless  of  the  objections  of  the  citizens; 
appointments  were  made  in  many  instances  to 
fill  ofilices  purely  municipal ;  and  even  charters 
were  revoked  for  the  purpose  of  legislating 
officials  out  of  ofifice. 

Legal  resistance  to  legislative  interference 
resulted  in  the  appearance  of  a  new  body  of 
law,  covering  the  relation  of  the  city  to  the 
state.  From  the  first,  the  courts  have  accorded 
political  rather  than  legal  standing  to  municipal 
corporations,  and  have  ruled  that  their  charters 

—  unlike  those  issued  to  private  corporations 

—  may  be  amended  or  revoked  in  the  discre- 
tion of  the  state.  The  view  was  that  a  city  is 
largely  an  incorporated  agent  of  a  state  in  the 
administration  of  civil  government. 

The  cities  sought  to  put  a  check  upon  the 
powerful  and  unhappy  domination  of  their 
purely  local  affairs  by  the  legislatures.  This 
took  the  form  of  amendments  to  the  constitu- 
tions of  various  states,  forbidding  the  enact- 
ment of  special  laws.    Such  prohibitions,  in  a 


Government  19 


large  number  of  the  states,  included  the  incor- 
poration of  cities  and  amendments  to  existing 
charters. 

in  some  of  the  states  the  legislature  is  pro- 
hibited from  regulating  by  special  acts  the  local 
affairs  of  certain  or  all  of  the  municipalities, 
while  in  others  constitutional  amendments  for- 
bid the  legislature  to  make  special  laws  in  cer- 
tain instances  or  altogether.  A  very  important 
limitation  quite  generally  adopted,  operating 
as  a  check  upon  both  legislature  and  munici- 
pality, is  the  fixing  of  the  debt  limit  for  munic- 
ipalities. 

These  constitutional  restrictions  have  called 
forth  the  ready  resourcefulness  of  the  poli- 
ticians, not  always  for  their  own  selfish  ends, 
however,  for  many  communities  have  to  face 
individual  conditions  requiring  special  author- 
ity. The  legitimate  way  of  meeting  this  need 
is  provided  in  the  classifications  of  cities  exist- 
ing in  many  of  the  state  constitutions,  com- 
monly based  upon  the  population. 

But  where  the  spirit  of  interference  existed, 
the  constitutional  restrictions  against  special 
laws  was  evaded  by  legislative  leaders  by 
so  arranging  the  classification  as  to  place  a 
single  city  in  a  class.  In  some  states  this 
practice  became  so  flagrant  an  evasion  of 
the  spirit  of  the  constitutional  prohibition  of 
special  legislation  that  the  courts  were  forced 


20  The  American  City 

to  rule  against  it,  holding  that  the  basis  of 
classification  must  have  a  direct  relation  to  the 
purpose  of  the  law  enacted.  This  has  resulted 
in  additional  amendments  in  some  states,  limit- 
ing the  classification  of  cities  to  a  small  num- 
ber of  groups  and  requiring  that  enactments 
shall  apply  to  at  least  all  of  one  group.  But 
because  the  constitutional  restrictions  resulted 
in  preventing  actually  needed  special  legislation 
some  of  the  states  have  provided  that  all  laws 
having  a  special  operation  shall  be  referred  to 
the  voters  or  the  mayor  or  council  of  the  city 
affected. 

Another  means  employed  in  a  limited  num- 
ber of  states  to  secure  a  greater  measure  of 
home  rule  for  cities  is  a  constitutional  provision 
that  cities  may  frame  and  change  their  own 
charters.  Missouri  led  the  way  in  1875  and 
twelve  states  have  since  followed.  This  has 
provided  a  safe  form  of  autonomy,  as  all  such 
charters  are  subject  to  the  general  laws  of  the 
respective  states,  and  the  courts  have  ruled 
that  in  this  provision  the  states  have  not  sur- 
rendered jurisdiction  over  those  matters  con- 
sidered strictly  within  the  functions  of  state 
government. 

Despite  all  these  means  and  efforts  to  pro- 
vide a  larger  degree  of  home  rule,  many  states 
continue  to  exercise  legislative  and  administra- 
tive control  of  cities  to  a  remarkable  extent; 


Government  21 


and  practically  all  retain  control  over  certain 
departments,  largely  through  state  commis- 
sions, such  as  police,  health,  education,  chari- 
ties, correction,  and  public  utilities. 

Municipalities,  in  addition  to  those  legisla- 
tive and  administrative  functions  granted  to 
them,  quite  generally  exercise  local  judicial 
functions,  chiefly  dealing  with  misdemeanors; 
some  have  civil  jurisdiction,  and  the  local  se- 
lection of  judges  to  perform  these  functions, 
though  the  right  of  review  is  retained  by  state 
courts.  It  is  held  that  if  the  constitution  of  a 
state  provides  that  a  city  may  select  its  judicial 
officers  the  state  is  to  that  extent  restricted  in 
assuming  judicial  powers. 

It  is  interesting  to  note,  even  briefly,  the 
development  and  some  of  the  present  condi- 
tions of  government  in  a  few  of  the  larger 
cities. 

2.  New  York 

Upon  the  establishment  of  the  new  state, 
New  York  City's  colonial  charter  was  con- 
firmed, and  for  some  time  thereafter  changes 
were  made  only  upon  application  of  its  citizens, 
and  no  acts  of  the  legislature  became  effective 
without  the  approval  of  the  city.  About  1850 
the  legislature  attempted  to  settle  the  police 
scandal  in  the  city,  and  although  its  first  inter- 
ference was  resisted  even  to  the  point  of  blood- 


22  The  American  City 

shed,  its  course  was  upheld  by  the  courts. 
This  successful  entrance  of  the  legislature  into 
local  administration  was  soon  followed  by  the 
taking  of  control  of  other  departments,  and, 
until  about  forty-five  years  ago,  even  the  enact- 
ment of  the  city's  budget. 

Constitutional  restrictions  upon  the  legisla- 
ture, with  perhaps  minor  exceptions,  were  first 
made  in  1894,  when  the  new  constitution  was 
adopted.  This  provides  for  the  submission  of 
all  special  laws  applying  to  cities  of  the  first 
class  for  the  approval  of  such  cities,  and  about 
the  only  other  local  control  of  importance  is 
the  provision  that  the  State  Public  Service 
Commission  cannot  grant  franchises  or  let 
contracts  without  approval  of  the  local 
authorities. 

Numerous  charter  changes  have  been  made. 
The  consolidation  in  1897  necessitated  a  meas- 
ure of  decentralized  administration  with  strong 
central  control,  in  order  that  the  business  of 
the  people  with  the  corporation  rnight  be  ex- 
pedited, and  a  division  into  five  boroughs  was 
made,  with  an  elective  head  for  each.  At  this 
time  the  Board  of  Aldermen  was  restored  to 
a  bicameral  body,  with  large  and  important 
functions,  but  four  years  later  it  was  changed 
to  a  single-chambered  board  of  seventy-nine 
members  with  less  power,  and  four  years  after 
that  it  was  deprived  of  most  of  its  remaining 


Government  23 


powers  by  transfer  to  the  Board  of  Estimate 
and  Apportionment.  The  President  of  the 
Board  of  Aldermen  is  an  elective  official  and 
a  sort  of  vice  mayor. 

The  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment, 
established  in  1871,  approaches  the  commission 
form.  It  is  composed  of  the  elective  heads  of 
the  city  government  —  the  Mayor,  President  of 
Board  of  Aldermen,  Controller,  and  five 
Borough  Presidents.  It  prepares  and  passes 
the  annual  budget;  authorizes  issues  of  bonds, 
within  the  debt  limit;  grants  franchises,  some 
of  which  are  vised  by  the  State  Public  Service 
Commission  and  subject  to  veto  of  the  mayor; 
has  control  of  the  streets;  and  is  clothed  with 
other  important  powers.  The  later  charter 
changes  also  bestowed  large  appointive  powers 
upon  the  mayor.  The  present  administration 
has  found  it  impossible  to  establish  certain 
rather  ordinary  reforms  in  the  administration 
of  the  city's  affairs  because  of  the  refusal  of 
the  legislature  to  grant  the  necessary  powers, 
so  great  is  the  dependence  of  the  city  upon 
the  pleasure  of  the  legislature. 

J.  Chicago 

The  constitution  adopted  by  Illinois  in  1870 
prohibited  the  legislature  from  incorporating 
cities  by  special  acts.  Two  years  later  a  gen- 
eral municipal  corporations  act  was  passed, 


24  The  American  City 

applicable  to  existing  cities  upon  adoption  by 
majority  vote  of  the  citizens  of  such  cities. 
Chicago  accepted  the  provisions  of  this  act  in 
1875,  and  until  1904  was  protected  by  consti- 
tutional restrictions  from  special  legislation, 
although  there  was  some  evasion  of  this  in  the 
manner  of  classifying  Chicago.  However, 
Chicago  has  been  less  subject  to  legislative  con- 
trol in  its  local  affairs  than  perhaps  any  other 
American  city. 

A  constitutional  amendment  in  1904  author- 
ized the  legislature  to  pass  any  law  it  might 
deem  necessary  to  establish  a  complete  system 
of  government  for  Chicago,  provided  that  no 
such  law  could  take  effect  without  the  consent 
of  the  people  at  a  regular  or  special  election. 
The  legislature  is  also  prohibited  from  impos- 
ing taxes  upon  cities  and  various  other  forms 
of  interference.  The  growth  of  Chicago  has 
long  necessitated  a  new  charter,  but  the  effort 
in  1905  produced  a  document  so  changed  by 
the  legislature  that  the  people  rejected  it  and 
subsequent  efforts  have  been  unsuccessful.  The 
Public  Utilities  Commission  bill,  passed  in 
June,  19 1 3,  was  strenuously  objected  to  by  the 
people  of  Chicago  because  of  the  elimination 
by  the  lower  house  of  the  home  rule  provisions. 
However,  not  being  a  special  law,  the  consent 
of  the  people  was  not  required,  and  as  each  of 
the  several  parties  in  the  previous  state  election 


Government  25 


had  been  pledged  to  such  legislation  the  Gov- 
ernor felt  compelled  to  sign  the  bill. 

The  city  council  is  in  practice  and  theory 
the  central  governing  body.  It  is  unicameral 
and  composed  of  seventy  members.  Most  of 
the  departments  were  organized  by  the  council, 
without  special  legislative  requirement.  The 
mayor  is  the  presiding  officer  but  has  no  vote 
except  in  case  of  a  tie,  and  his  veto  may  be 
offset  by  a  two-thirds  vote,  although  he  is 
authorized  to  submit  a  substitute  for  any  ve- 
toed ordinance.  The  council  has,  in  fact,  gen- 
eral power  to  pass  ordinances  and  prescribe 
regulations  requisite  to  carry  into  effect  the 
powers  possessed  by  the  city,  except  in  certain 
financial  matters  which  must  be  referred  to  the 
voters.  It  also  has  no  authority  over  schools 
except  in  the  matter  of  sites  and  construction. 
Most  administrative  heads  are  appointed  by 
the  mayor,  subject  to  approval  by  council. 

4.  Philadelphia 

Although  the  constitution  of  Pennsylvania 
forbids  the  legislature  to  incorporate  or  amend 
charters  of  cities  except  by  general  laws,  the 
political  leaders  have  always  evaded  the  re- 
striction by  so  classifying  the  cities  as  to  place 
Philadelphia  in  a  class  by  itself.  In  this  man- 
ner, for  instance,  the  city  and  state  bosses 
working  together  amended  the  city's  charter  so 


26  The  American  City 

that  the  power  of  appointment  of  heads  of  two 
of  the  most  important  departments  was  trans- 
ferred to  councils  in  fear  of  the  approaching 
election  of  a  reform  mayor  in  1905.  The  same 
combination  made  the  city  famous  for  an  at- 
tempted deal  in  connection  with  its  gas  works 
whereby  the  city  would  have  lost  $30,000,000. 
The  mayor  alone  in  this  case  felt  the  weight  of 
the  people's  opposition  and  vetoed  the  measure. 
This  was  followed  in  1907  by  the  same  pro- 
jectors passing  a  measure  whereby  a  number 
of  franchises  were  issued  in  Philadelphia 
which  created  another  of  the  almost  periodic 
scandals. 

The  councils  are  composed  of  two  branches : 
the  select,  made  up  of  one  member  from  each 
of  forty-seven  wards;  and  the  common,  com- 
posed of  eighty- four  members,  or  one  for  every 
four  thousand  qualified  voters.  A  reform  char- 
ter in  1885  separated  the  legislative  and  admin- 
istrative functions,  transferring  much  of  the 
latter  to  the  mayor,  and  further  forbade  coun- 
cils to  create  new  departments.  The  councils 
have  power  to  pass  all  ordinances  and  regula- 
tions necessary  for  the  government  of  the 
city,  and  not  conflicting  with  the  laws  and  con- 
stitution of  the  state;  power  to  fix  and  levy 
taxes;  to  fix  salaries  of  ofBcials;  to  grant  fran- 
chises—  and  there  are  no  general  provisions 
of  law  limiting  this  power.     Altogether,   as 


Government  27 


compared  with  other  cities,  the  councils  of 
Philadelphia  have  very  great  power.  The 
mayor  appoints  the  heads  of  the  principal  de- 
partments, subject  to  approval  of  select  council, 
and  he  must  see  that  the  ordinances  and  laws 
are  properly  executed. 

5.  St.  Louis 

St.  Louis  was  the  first  city  to  secure  a  home- 
rule  charter,  made  possible  by  constitutional 
amendments  in  1875.  A  provision  was  also 
made  that  the  legislative  body  of  the  city  may 
amend  the  charter  if  such  amendment  be  ac- 
cepted by  three-fifths  of  the  voters  voting. 
Although  the  state  conferred  additional  powers 
upon  St.  Louis,  and  was  prohibited  from 
amending  city  charters  by  special  laws,  the  leg- 
islature has  found  the  usual  means  of  infring- 
ing upon  home  rule  in  a  peculiar  classification 
of  the  cities.  Among  other  limitations  the 
legislature  is  prohibited  from  imposing  taxes 
in  cities  for  municipal  purposes  or  interposing 
in  financial  transactions.  In  1907  the  legisla- 
ture conferred  upon  the  cities  power  to  regu- 
late rates  of  all  public  utilities. 

In  June,  19 14,  a  new  charter  was  adopted 
by  a  safe  majority  of  the  voters.  The  radical 
changes  provide  for  the  recall,  initiative,  and 
referendum,  and  the  old  bicameral  legislative 
body  is  abolished  and  responsibility  is  concen- 


28  The  American  City 

trated  in  a  mayor  and  board  of  aldermen  of 
twenty-eight  members.  The  board  has  power 
by  ordinance,  not  inconsistent  with  the  charter, 
to  exercise  all  the  powers  of  the  city.  The 
board  grants  all  franchises  and  has  full  regu- 
lative powers  over  public  service  corporations 
as  to  the  character  of  construction  and  equip- 
ment, quality  of  service,  and  reasonableness  of 
rates.  The  charter  also  provides  that  the  city 
may  own  and  operate  public  utilities  of  any 
kind.  The  mayor,  comptroller,  and  president 
of  the  Board  of  Aldermen  are  the  only  elective 
executive  officials,  and  these  compose  the 
Board  of  Estimate,  which,  however,  only  pre- 
pares the  budget  for  enactment  by  the  Board 
of  Aldermen.  The  mayor  appoints  all  other 
administrative  officials  without  reference  to  the 
aldermen. 

6.  Boston 

Massachusetts  issued  its  first  city  charter  to 
Boston  in  1822.  Being  the  capital  of  the  state 
with  the  legislature  in  annual  sessions,  and  the 
latter  unrestricted  by  constitutional  limitations 
from  exercising  authority  over  cities,  Boston 
is  under  greater  legislative  control  than  any 
other  American  city.  Most  of  the  important 
changes  in  the  charter  have  been  made  by  the 
legislature  without  reference  to  the  city,  and 
all  by-laws  made  by  the  city  are  subject  to 


Government  29 


annulment  by  the  legislature.  State  commis- 
sions exercise  control  over  various  departments 
in  all  cities  of  the  state. 

It  cannot  be  said  that  Boston  has  greatly 
suffered  from  this  domination  by  the  legisla- 
ture, for  it  is  today  one  of  the  best  governed 
cities  in  the  country.  In  1901  the  legislature, 
with  the  approval  of  the  city's  voters,  abolished 
the  primaries  and  substituted  nominations  by 
petition,  with  non-partisan  elections.  In  the 
same  year  the  legislature  changed  the  city's 
legislative  body  from  a  bicameral  council  of 
eighty-eight  members  to  a  single  chambered 
body  of  nine  members,  each  with  an  annual 
salary  of  $1,500. 

The  powers  of  the  council  are  rather  lim- 
ited, -and  it  may  not  take  part  in  the  conduct 
of  executive  or  administrative  business  of  the 
city  or  county  nor  expend  the  public  money, 
except  for  its  own  expenses.  Its  approval  is 
required  for  certain  contracts ;  it  has  authority 
to  reject  or  reduce  items  in  the  annual  budget; 
it  may  veto  the  mayor's  ordinances  or  pass  ordi- 
nances, subject  to  his  veto;  and  in  conjunction 
with  the  mayor  may  change  departments,  ex- 
cept those  exempted  from  its  power,  and  may 
create  new  departments  and  change  salaries. 

Authority  is  centered  in  the  mayor  to  a  re- 
markable degree.  He  may  propose  ordinances 
or  loan  orders,   except  for  school  purposes, 


30  The  American  City 

and  put  them  into  effect  unless  rejected  by 
council  within  sixty  days.  All  appropriations 
other  than  for  school  purposes  to  be  met  from 
any  source  of  income  except  loans  must  origi- 
nate with  the  mayor.  He  has  absolute  veto  on 
the  acts  of  the  council,  excepting  those  relating 
to  its  internal  affairs.  He  appoints  all  heads 
of  departments,  except  school  commissioners 
and  officials  appointed  by  the  state,  without 
reference  to  the  council. 

7.  Forms  of  Municipal  Government 

Quite  naturally  the  early  form  of  municipal 
government  adopted  in  the  United  States  was 
patterned  after  that  in  England.  A  coimcil, 
chosen  by  a  limited  electorate,  was  vested  with 
all  functions  of  the  government.  The  first 
change,  near  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, was  the  adoption  of  the  system  of  checks 
and  balances  in  use  by  the  national  government, 
and  the  office  of  mayor  became  more  indepen- 
dent. This  was  followed  by  a  fuller  use  of  the 
Federal  plan  of  separating  legislative  and  exec- 
utive authority,  and  of  dividing  the  former 
into  a  two-chambered  body. 

Misrule  began  rather  early  and  the  people, 
for  relief,  turned  to  their  faith  in  democracy 
and  widened  the  suffrage,  which  between  1830 
and  1850  was  extended  to  all  males  of  twenty- 
one  years  and  over.    In  addition,  all  important 


Government,  31 


offices  besides  those  of  mayor  and  members  of 
council  were  filled  by  election.  Because  of 
the  attitude  of  men  of  education  and  business 
toward  civic  positions,  municipal  government, 
especially  the  legislative  branch,  became  the 
occupation  of  a  special  class  called  politicians, 
who  largely  looked  upon  their  success  at  the 
polls  as  an  opportunity  for  the  gratification  of 
their  personal  interests.  This  was  easy  of 
achievement  through  "combinations"  and 
"  rings,"  and  the  development  of  the  "  spoils  " 
system.  Full  advantage  was  also  taken  of 
the  dissipation  of  responsibility  through  the 
multiplicity  of  elective  offices. 

The  "board  system"  came  rather  exten- 
sively into  use  by  i860  as  a  supposed  relief 
from  political  reign.  This  system  conferred 
all  the  administrative  powers  upon  various 
boards  having  in  charge  the  various  depart- 
ments of  the  city.  The  members  of  these 
boards  held  office  for  fixed  terms  and  were 
either  chosen  by  popular  vote,  appointed  by 
the  state,  or  elected  by  the  council.  However, 
this  plan  proved  defective,  largely  because  of 
the  widely  divided  responsibility,  and  disap- 
peared within  the  next  two  decades.  The 
abuses  of  the  council  resulted  during  this 
period  in  a  movement  to  reduce  its  size  and 
concentrate  greater  power  upon  the  mayor,  in- 
cluding the  veto.     By  the  close  of  the  nine- 


32  The  American  City 

teenth  century  the  reforms  rather  extensively 
achieved  reduced  the  number  of  elective  offi- 
cials; clothed  the  few  elective  officials  with 
greater  power,  and  likewise  greater  responsi- 
bility ;  empowered  the  mayor  to  fill  purely  ad- 
ministrative offices,  in  some  cities  without  the 
approval  of  the  council;  and  placed  financial 
control  in  the  hands  of  a  board  composed  of 
officials  elected  to  various  offices. 

Centralization  of  power  in  one  head  is  dis- 
tasteful to  a  people  whose  political  ideals  are 
based  on  democracy,  and  while  centralization 
tends  to  make  a  single  official  of  large  responsi- 
bility keenly  sensitive  to  public  opinion,  and  has 
resulted  in  some  notable  instances  of  a  mayor 
fortified  by  public  opinion  successfully  defying 
the  opposition  of  the  council,  it  was  inevitable 
that  other  plans  and  radical  changes  in  the 
form  of  government  should  be  proposed.  A 
few  cities  have  sought  to  solve  the  problem  by 
providing  an  advisory  body  to  the  mayor.  In 
Cleveland  it  is  called  the  Board  of  Control  and 
is  composed  of  the  heads  of  the  six  depart- 
ments, who  are  required  to  meet  at  least  twice 
each  week.  In  St.  Paul  it  is  known  as  the 
Conference  Committee,  and  includes  the  presi- 
dent of  the  upper  chamber,  the  chairman  of 
the  ways  and  means  committee  of  the  lower 
chamber,  and  eleven  other  officials.  This  com- 
mittee has  definite  duties  and  powers.     Port- 


Government  33 


land,  Oregon,  has  an  Executive  Committee 
composed  of  ten  members,  who  are  appointed, 
and  removed,  by  the  mayor.  Various  other 
modifications  of  this  idea  exist.  The  two 
forms  which  have  found  most  favor  and  have 
stood  sufficient  testing  to  demonstrate  their 
soundness  are  known  as  the  Commission  Form 
—  or  remodeled  council  —  and  the  City  Man- 
ager Plan. 

Badly  governed,  and  demoralized  by  a  de- 
structive tidal  wave  in  September,  1900,  Gal- 
veston, Texas,  was  in  a  desperate  situation. 
Acting  upon  the  petition  of  a  number  of  the 
city's  best  citizens  the  legislature  abolished  the 
old  form  of  city  government  and  provided  for 
the  adoption  of  the  new  plan.  This  provided 
for  the  giving  of  all  existing  powers  to  a  com- 
mission of  five.  The  business  of  the  city  is 
divided  into  four  departments,  each  depart- 
ment being  under  the  charge  and  direction  of 
a  commissioner.  These  four  commissioners 
and  the  mayor  constitute  the  Board  of  Com- 
missioners. The  mayor  is  the  president  of 
the  board  and  the  executive  head  of  the  city 
government,  and  exercises  all  the  powers  con- 
ferred upon  the  office  of  mayor,  except  that  he 
has  no  veto  power.  At  the  first  meeting  after 
the  election  of  the  commissioners  they  desig- 
nate, by  majority  vote,  who  shall  head  the 
four  departments. 


34  The  American  City 

The  Commissioner  of  Finance  and  Revenue 
has  under  his  direction  the  offices  of  assessor, 
collector,  treasurer,  and  auditor.  He  must  also 
keep  himself  informed  as  to  the  finances  of 
the  city,  and,  with  the  assistance  of  the  other 
members,  prepare  the  budget. 

The  Commissioner  of  Water  Works  and 
Sewerage  has  full  charge  of,  and  responsibility 
for,  everything  pertaining  to  that  department. 

The  Commissioner  of  Streets  and  Public 
Property  is  not  only  charged  with  all  matters 
ordinarily  belonging  to  such  a  department,  but 
also  everything  pertaining  to  the  public  health. 

The  fourth  member  of  the  board  is  Com- 
missioner of  Police  and  Fire,  and  he  has 
under  his  jurisdiction  the  judge  and  clerk  of 
the  corporation  court. 

The  city  secretary  and  city  attorney  are 
officers  with  whom  the  mayor-president  is 
closely  associated  and  they  are  usually  nomi- 
nated by  him.  All  officers  and  employees  are 
nominated  by  the  commissioners  in  charge  of 
the  respective  departments  and  are  elected  by 
a  majority  of  the  entire  board.  The  city  attor- 
ney and  the  head  officials  of  the  various  de- 
partments are  required  by  the  city  charter  to 
attend  all  meetings  of  the  board.  The  mayor 
and  any  commissioner  can  be  removed  by 
proving  sufficient  cause  before  a  district  judge. 

This  new   form  of  municipal  government 


Government  35 


soon  proved  competent,  and  cities  in  other 
states,  noting  its  efficiency,  sought  permission, 
through  the  necessary  legislative  provision  of 
their  respective  states,  to  adopt  it.  By  19 12 
more  than  two  hundred  cities,  in  twenty  states, 
had  adopted  the  commission  plan  in  some  form ; 
one  with  a  population  of  more  than  500,000 
and  seven  exceeding  100,000  in  population. 
This  form  has  brought  into  force  some  very 
important  reforms;  such  as  the  short  ballot, 
election  at  large  (not  by  wards),  non-parti- 
san elections  in  many  cities,  and  various  checks 
assuring  control  by  the  voters.  The  number 
of  commissioners  varies  from  four  to  ten,  but 
most  cities  have  five. 

It  is  quite  generally  agreed  that  where  the 
commission  form  has  been  in  force  marked  im- 
provement has  been  shown  in  the  city's  finan- 
cial affairs;  administration  of  departments  has 
been  more  efficient;  a  better  class  of  men  has 
been  attracted  to  the  municipal  service;  and 
the  moral  tone  has  greatly  improved. 

A  certain  distinctive  modification  of  the 
commission  form  is  called  the  City  Manager 
Plan.  The  forerunner  of  this  plan  came  into 
existence  in  Staunton,  Virginia,  in  1908,  but 
the  plan  in  its  true  form  originated  with  Lock- 
port,  New  York,  in  19 10.  The  legislature  re- 
fused to  pass  the  Lockport  bill,  but  in  June, 
1 91 2,  the  little  city  of  Sumter,  South  Carolina, 


36  The  American  City 

taking  advantage  of  a  general  law,  adopted  the 
Lockport  plan  in  all  its  essentials. 

The  plan,  as  now  in  force  in  a  number  of 
cities  of  about  sixteen  states,  provides  for  a 
,  board  of  directors,  generally  five  in  number, 
called  a  commission  or  council,  clothed  with 
legislative  powers  only.  This  restriction 
marks  the  chief  variation  from  the  commission 
form.  The  commission's  one  administrative 
duty,  under  this  manager  plan,  is  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  city  manager,  who  is  at  all  times 
responsible  solely  to  the  commission.  This  ad- 
ministrative head  appoints  the  heads  of  depart- 
ments and  is  charged  with  the  conduct  of  all 
the  affairs  of  the  city  other  than  political.  In 
order  that  the  city  may  have  a  political  head, 
I  to  act  as  necessity  arises,  the  commission  elects 
one  of  its  number  to  be  mayor. 

In  scarcely  none  of  the  cities  in  which  this 
'plan  has  been  put  into  force  has  the  manager 
been  drawn  from  home  talent,  but  rather  by 
widely  advertising  their  need  they  have  sought 
to  obtain  the  best  men  to  be  had,  and  this 
same  policy  has  largely  been  observed  by  the 
managers  themselves  in  making  their  appoint- 
ments. Dayton,  Ohio,  with  a  population  of 
117,000,  is  the  largest  city  to  adopt  the  city 
manager  plan.  The  city  engineer  of  Cincin- 
nati, Ohio,  was  appointed  to  the  office  in  De- 
cember, 191 3,  at  an  annual  salary  of  $12,500. 


Government  37 


The  unification  of  power  provided  in  these 
new  forms  of  city  government  is  fairly  safe- 
guarded by  several  checks  which  have  come 
into  use  during  the  past  several  decades.  These 
are  called  initiative,  referendum,  and  recall, 
and  operate  to  keep  a  large  amount  of  control 
within  the  voters'  hands. 

Throughout  New  England  the  towns  gen- 
erally have  clung  to  the  town  meeting  plan  as 
providing  a  local  government  more  in  accord 
with  the  wishes  of  the  public  than  some  of  the 
modern  plans,  although  the  larger  cities  have 
felt  the  need  of,  and  have  adopted,  some  forms 
and  variations  of  the  new  order. 

8.  The  Council 

Except  where  the  commission  form  exists 
the  powers  of  the  council  quite  generally  have 
been  reduced,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  and 
the  trend  has  been  to  separate  the  governing 
powers,  placing  most  of  the  actual  authority 
in  the  hands  of  the  mayor,  and  leaving  with 
the  council  only  such  legislative  powers  as  are 
conferred  by  the  charter  and  legislature.  This 
municipal  legislative  body  is  variously  known 
as  the  city  council,  common  council,  councils, 
municipal  assembly,  board  of  aldermen,  etc. 
In  many  of  the  smaller  cities  the  council  is  still 
charged  with  considerable  administrative  su- 
pervision and  appointive  power.    In  some  cities 


38  The  American  City 

the  powers  are  limited  exclusively  to  legislation, 
and  further  modifications  have  divided  this 
power  between  the  council  and  various  admin- 
istrative boards,  such  as  boards  of  health,  edu- 
cation, public  works,  etc. 

The  council  in  certain  cities  has  lost  a  great 
deal  of  its  power  through  their  transfer  to 
a  board,  variously  named,  constituted,  and 
empowered.  Further  reduction  of  the  coun- 
cil's power  in  some  cities  has  been  carried  to 
the  merest  point  of  justifying  the  existence  of 
the  body.  This  has  had  the  effect  of  making 
the  office  unattractive  to  the  machine  politicians 
and  of  bringing  in  a  better  class  of  men,  of  a 
different  school  of  politics. 

The  early  form  of  the  council  was  unicam- 
eral, but  bicameral  bodies  quite  generally 
replaced  the  single  chambered  councils  early 
in  the  nineteenth  century.  However,  the  cease- 
less spirit  of  change,  inspired  by  the  continual 
search  for  an  ideal  form  of  municipal  govern- 
ment, has  caused  many  cities  to  revert  to  the 
unicameral  body.  Half  of  the  cities  having  a 
population  of  more  than  300,000,  and  one- 
third  of  those  having  more  than  25,000  have 
bicameral  councils,  while  about  one-fifth  of  the 
cities  having  a  population  of  between  8,000  and 
25,000  have  single  chambered  councils.  The 
manner  of  electing  the  members  of  the  council 
are  variously  by  wards  or  at  large,  and  in  some 


Government  39 


cities  the  presiding  officer  is  elected,  being  prac- 
tically a  vice  mayor. 

p.  Conclusion 

In  the  foregoing  has,  been  set  forth  in  out- 
line the  various  changes  and  developments  that 
have  taken  place  in  the  forms  of  municipal 
government;  from  single  to  double  chambered 
legislative  bodies,  or  vice  versa;  from  a  scatter- 
ing of  powers  among  numerous  heads  and 
boards  to  a  single  head  or  board;  from  all  of 
these  to  the  current  commission  form  and  man- 
ager plan.  These  changes  have  represented 
various  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  citizens  to 
correct  observed  abuses,  and  to  produce  a  more 
responsive  and  responsible  governing  body. 
There  is  no  one  form  which  has  proven  itself 
to  be  eminently  better  than  the  others.  The 
people,  generally,  seem  to  have  become  con- 
vinced that  centralization  of  responsibility  pro- 
duces the  best  results.  Whether  this  centrali- 
zation shall  be  in  the  form  of  greater  power 
for  a  mayor,  an  ex-officio  board  and  commis- 
sion, or  a  manager,  has  not  been  determined, 
and  probably  never  will  be,  owing  to  the  fact 
that  different-sized  cities  or  different  local  con- 
ditions may  render  one  form  more  acceptable 
than  another.  No  form  will  relieve  the  citi- 
zens of  responsibility.  The  success  of  any 
form  will  primarily  depend  upon  the  active 


40  The  American  City 

interest  of  the  citizens.  Any  form  will  not 
automatically  produce  good  results,  and  any 
form  can  be  disappointing  when  not  watched 
and  checked  by  the  electors.  With  constant 
watchfulness  on  the  part  of  the  citizens,  almost 
any  form  can  be  made  successful. 


CHAPTER  III 

FINANCES   OF   CITIES 

"PXPENDITURES  for  public  purposes  in 
-'-^  rural  communities  are  relatively  few  and 
simple.  A  county  usually  supports  two  or 
more  courts,  one  wherein  are  tried  cases  deal- 
ing with  property  and  domestic  relations  and 
another  devoted  to  crimes  or  misdemeanors. 
Ordinarily  the  function  of  building  bridges  and 
county  roads,  also  the  oversight  of  an  alms- 
house, is  placed  in  the  charge  of  one  or  more 
commissioners.  In  addition  to  these  officers 
there  is  usually  a  clerk  to  record  public  papers 
and  matters,  and  an  auditor  and  treasurer  to 
care  for  public  money.  Each  township  in  the 
county  may  have  a  few  local  officers,  such  as 
a  justice  of  the  peace,  trustees,  road  commis- 
sioners, each  of  whom  receives  little  or  no  pay 
for  his  services.  The  total  expenditures  for 
county  purposes  may  not  exceed  $15,000  to 
$25,000  yearly.  The  aggregate  yearly  expen- 
diture of  the  following  ten  counties  in  Ohio, 
Fulton,  Madison,  Medina,  Monroe,  Ottawa, 
Paulding,  Warren,  Williams,  Wyandot,  Union, 
is  about  $1,600,000.  Their  combined  popula- 
tion is  about  229,000.     The  average  yearly 

41 


42  The  American  City 

expenditure  of  the  following  seven  cities,  Den- 
ver, Indianapolis,  Kansas  City,  Providence, 
Rochester,  N.  Y.,  Seattle,  and  St.  Paul,  each 
having  a  population  of  practically  the  same 
size  as  the  combined  ten  counties,  is  about 
$3,960,000.  The  expenditures  for  public  pur- 
poses of  about  230,000  persons  living  in  rural 
communities  is  less  than  half  the  amount  ex- 
pended by  a  like  number  of  persons  gathered 
together  into  a  city. 

Many  people  living  together  in  one  com- 
munity called  a  city,  necessitate  a  variety  of 
expenditures  not  required  of  people  tilling  the 
soil.  The  city  must  have  paved  streets  with 
gutters  and  sidewalks.  These  streets  must  be 
well  lighted  and  cleaned.  Under  their  surface 
must  be  placed  sewers,  pipes  for  water  and 
gas,  wires  for  telephones,  electric  lights,  mes- 
senger and  signal  service.  The  streets  must  be 
patrolled  by  day  and  by  night  to  protect  life 
and  property.  Fire  apparatus  must  be  kept  in 
readiness  in  all  parts  of  the  city  to  lessen  the 
danger  of  a  general  conflagration,  which  not 
infrequently  occurs  where  buildings  are  massed 
together.  It  becomes  necessary  to  maintain 
a  department  to  supervise  the  character  of 
building  construction  that  life  and  property 
may  be  protected.  In  some  cities  a  commission 
exists  to  pass  upon  the  artistic  features  of  pub- 
lic buildings.    The  sick  and  dependent  must  be 


Finances  of  Cities  43 

cared  for  in  institutions.  Street  venders  must 
be  regulated  and  public  markets  supervised. 
Such  a  city  as  New  York  has  130  departments 
and  bureaus  conducting  public  business.  These 
departments  during  19 14  expended  nearly 
$200,000,000.  Every  city  has  expenditures 
similar  in  character  to  those  of  New  York  and 
approximating  the  same  amount  per  capita  of 
population. 

I.  Income 

The  expenditures  of  a  city  for  public  pur- 
poses necessitate  an  income  which  is  secured 
mainly  from  taxes  upon  property.  This  income 
is  usually  supplemented  by  licenses,  fees,  pay- 
ments for  franchises,  and  money  borrowed  on 
notes  issued  by  the  city.  To  collect  these 
moneys  requires  the  maintenance  of  depart- 
ments and  bureaus. 

2.  Direct  Property  Tax 

The  chief  income  of  a  city  is  usually  secured 
by  levying  a  tax  upon  property.  For  purposes 
of  taxation  property  is  usually  classified  as 
land,  buildings  and  improvements,  and  per- 
sonal property.  In  some  cities  the  land  and 
buildings  thereon  are  assessed  as  one  prop- 
erty; in  others  the  land  and  buildings  are 
assessed  as  separate  items  with  a  valuation 
placed  upon  each.     Most  cities  tax  what  is 


44  The  American  City 

termed  personal  property,  a  classification  which 
includes  all  forms  of  property  not  land  or 
buildings  or  grants  called  franchises.  This 
property  is  in  a  variety  of  forms,  such  as 
money,  credit,  mortgages,  notes,  bonds,  stocks, 
and  personal  effects,  such  as  furniture,  jewelry, 
clothing,  etc. 

Since  land  and  buildings  are  definitely 
located  and  cannot  be  concealed,  it  is  not  diffi- 
cult to  levy  a  tax  upon  them  which  will  be 
comparatively  uniform  in  its  application  and 
just  to  all  owners.  The  case  is  far  different,  how- 
ever, with  personal  property.  This  is  a  form  of 
property  which  can  be  and  is  transferred  from 
place  to  place ;  it  may  be  concealed.  Many  citi- 
zens will  not  voluntarily  inform  an  assessor  as  to 
the  personal  property  they  possess ;  others  will 
wilfully  deceive.  That  such  deception  is  prac- 
ticed is  quite  evident  from  the  fact  that  the 
amount  of  personal  property  taxed  in  New 
York  City  decreased  from  $419,679,395  in 
1897,  the  year  of  consolidation,  to  $325,421,- 
340  in  191 3.  During  this  period  the  amount 
of  such  property  had  without  question  in- 
creased several  hundred  per  cent.  The  honest 
man  declares  his  personal  property  and  the 
dishonest  man  conceals  his.  Thus  an  unequal 
and  unjust  burden  falls  upon  the  honest  man. 
So  apparent  has  this  unjust  burden  be- 
come in  recent  years  that  some  tax  experts 


Finances  of  Cities  45 

have  recommended  the  abolition  of  the  personal 
tax. 

The  abolition  of  the  personal  tax  might  seem 
to  relieve  from  taxation  those  owning  only 
personal  property.  Such,  however,  is  not  the 
case.  Money  and  all  forms  of  securities  rep- 
resent tangible  property.  They  have  no  value 
except  as  they  give  the  possessor  a  right  to  real 
property  which  they  represent.  Gold  in  a 
deposit  box  is  of  no  value  to  its  owner  so  long 
as  it  remains  in  the  box.  Only  as  it  is  taken 
from  the  box,  actually  or  as  represented  by 
credit,  and  put  into  circulation  does  it  repre- 
sent value  and  produce  a  return.  Notes,  bonds, 
and  stocks  represent  real  property,  and  the 
returns  to  the  holder  in  the  form  of  interest 
or  dividends  are  reduced  in  proportion  to  the 
taxes  paid  on  the  real  property  which  the 
securities  represent.  The  advocates  of  the 
single  tax  hold  that  were  land  alone  taxed  all 
property  of  whatever  form  would  necessarily 
bear  a  portion  of  the  tax  levied  upon  the  land. 
This  method  of  taxation  has  been  adopted  in 
but  very  few  places,  not  so  much  because  the 
theory  is  considered  to  be  wrongly  based  but 
rather  that  the  practical  difficulties  of  levying 
such  a  tax  would  exceed  those  of  the  current 
methods.  Taxes  upon  personal  property,  how- 
ever, are  quite  generally  being  abandoned  and 
assessments  confined  to  real  property. 


46  The  American  City 

5.  Process  of  Levying  Taxes 

Before  taxes  can  be  levied  property  must 
be  assessed.  Assessing  involves,  first,  a  deter- 
mination of  the  value  of  each  piece  of  prop- 
erty; and  second,  an  assignment  to  such  prop- 
erty, according  to  its  value,  the  proportion  it 
must  bear  of  the  total  amount  to  be  raised 
by  taxation.  This  work  is  usually  done  by 
an  officer  or  board.  Information  is  gathered 
as  to  recent  sales  of  real  estate.  Judgment  as 
to  the  value  of  any  particular  piece  of  property 
is  based  largely  upon  the  price  at  which  prop- 
erty in  the  vicinity  has  sold.  Each  field 
assessor  places  values  upon  all  property  in  the 
district  assigned  to  him.  The  value  assigned 
by  him  is  governed  by  two  factors,  first  its 
marketable  value,  second  the  percentage  of  this 
marketable  value  which  the  city  has  adopted 
as  the  basis  of  its  calculation.  Some  cities,  of 
which  New  York  is  an  example,  design  to 
assess  property  at  100  per  cent  of  its  market- 
able value.  Other  cities  assess  at  some  per 
cent  less  than  100.  More  frequently  the  per- 
centage ranges  in  the  vicinity  of  sixty  to 
seventy. 

After  the  property  throughout  the  city  has 
been  valued,  a  rate  of  taxation  is  determined 
upon  by  the  department  of  the  city  entrusted 
with  that  power.     This  power  usually  resides 


Finances  of  Cities  47 

in  the  legislative  body,  which  is  the  board  of 
aldermen  or  council ;  or,  when  two  such  bodies 
exist,  in  the  joint  action  of  both.  Before  this 
rate  can  be  fixed  the  council  or  similar  body 
must  determine  the  budget  or  estimate  of  the 
amount  which  the  city  will  expend  during  the 
next  year,  and  to  this  amount  it  adds  the 
amount  of  any  short  term  notes  which  the  city 
may  have  issued  during  the  current  year  in 
anticipation  of  taxes  yet  to  be  collected,  also 
the  amount  of  any  uncollected  taxes,  and  also 
an  amount  which  will  be  sufficient  to  pay  inter- 
est and  sinking  fund  on  outstanding  bonds, 
unless  such  interest  and  sinking  fund  has  been 
provided  for  by  other  means.  The  sum  of 
these  four  items,  the  budget,  short  term  notes, 
vmcollected  taxes,  and  interest  on  sinking  fund 
divided  by  the  aggregate  value  of  property 
to  be  taxed  determine  the  rate  of  taxation. 
The  following  is  an  illustration  of  the  process : 

Budget  for  next  year $10,000,000 

Short  term  notes  due  the  next  year 90,000 

Uncollected  taxes 10,000 

Interest  and  sinking  fund  on  bonds 200,000 

Total  amount  to  be  expended $10,300,000 

Total  value  of  taxable  property ..  $686,666,666 

Amount  to  be  expended $  10,300,000 

=.015 
cents  for  each  dollar's  worth  of  property,  or  $15.00 
per  $1,000. 


48  The  American  City 

According  to  the  above  illustration  the  tax 
rate  would  be  $15.00  for  each  $1,000  worth 
of  property  if  the  amount  to  be  expended  by 
the  city  were  $10,300,000  and  the  total  value 
of  taxable  property  were  $686,666,666.  The 
rate  having  been  determined,  the  amount  each 
piece  of  property  is  to  bear  is  figured  and  be- 
comes a  lien  against  the  property  in  case  the 
owner  fails  to  pay  the  taxes.  The  collection 
of  taxes  usually  is  assigned  to  an  officer  or 
board  distinct  from  the  officer  or  board  which 
assesses  the  property. 

A  city  administration  needing  more  money 
than  has  been  expended  by  a  previous  admin- 
istration seldom  ventures  to  secure  it  by  in- 
creasing the  tax  rate.  More  often  the  addi- 
tional amount  desired  is  provided  by  increasing 
the  assessed  valuation  of  property  while  retain- 
ing the  rate  at  approximately  its  former  ratio. 
Citizens  seem  to  resent  less  this  method  than 
an  increase  in  the  tax  rate,  though  its  results 
are  the  same,  i.  e.,  the  amount  to  be  paid  on 
property  is  increased.  This  may  be  illustrated 
by  the  increase  in  property  valuation  in  New 
York  City  between  1900  and  1910.  The  total 
assessed  value  of  property  in  the  city  in  1900 
was  $3,654,122,193;  in  1910  it  was  $7,416,- 
837,499.  The  natural  increase  in  values  dur- 
ing this  period  due  to  improvements,  additional 
population,  and  other  factors  is  estimated  at 


Finances  of  Cities  49 

about  $2,375,000,000.  The  increase  due  to 
raising  assessed  valuation  was  probably  not 
less  than  $1,387,000,000.  The  ratio  of  assessed 
value  to  sale  value  in  1900  was  probably  about 
seventy  per  cent.  By  19 10  the  ratio  had  in- 
creased to  about  ninety-five  per  cent.  The 
tax  rate  in  1900  in  Manhattan  and  the  Bronx 
was  2.24;  in  1910,  1.7579. 

Some  cities  collect  taxes  previous  to  the 
expenditures  which  they  are  to  cover.  Other 
cities  borrow  sufficient  money  for  current 
expenses  in  anticipation  of  the  taxes  which, 
when  collected,  are  used  to  pay  the  notes  given 
for  the  loan.  The  latter  method  necessitates 
the  paying  of  interest  on  the  part  of  the  city, 
yet  allows  the  money  represented  by  the  taxes 
to  remain  in  the  taxpayers'  possession. 

4.  Licenses 

Another  source  of  income  is  licenses.  Li- 
censes are  privileges  granted  to  certain  indi- 
viduals. These  privileges  are  of  large  variety. 
Peddlers  upon  the  streets  or  public  places  are 
usually  charged  a  small  amount  for  the  priv- 
ilege of  carrying  on  business  on  the  public 
highway.  The  merchant  whose  place  of  busi- 
ness is  in  a  building  pays  taxes  upon  the  build- 
ing. The  vender  on  the  street  pays  no  taxes, 
yet  may  compete  with  such  merchant.  Since 
he  pays  no  taxes  the  city  assumes  it  is  justi- 


50  The  American  City 

fied  in  requiring  from  him  a  payment  in  the 
form  of  a  license  to  use  the  highway.  Owners 
of  automobiles  are  licensed  on  the  theory  that 
their  machines  are  more  destructive  to  pave- 
ments than  are  ordinary  vehicles.  Owners  of 
dogs  are  usually  required  to  pay  a  license  on 
the  supposition  that  dogs  are  more  or  less  of 
a  nuisance.  Some  lines  of  business  are  licensed 
for  the  purpose  of  securing  a  record  of  all 
persons  engaged  in  such  business.  This  applies 
more  especially  to  those  forms  of  business 
which  are  liable  to  break  the  law  and  require 
police  supervision.  Such,  for  instance,  as 
pawnbrokers,  saloon  keepers,  dance  hall  pro- 
prietors, moving-picture  theaters. 

Persons  or  businesses  to  be  licensed  and  the 
rate  of  such  licenses  are  usually  designated  by 
the  council  or  board  of  aldermen.  The  issuing 
of  the  licenses  is  ordinarily  placed  in  the  hands 
of  the  city  clerk,  or  in  the  larger  cities  in  the 
hands  of  a  special  bureau.  The  funds  collected 
may  be  turned  into  the  city  treasury  or  devoted 
to  some  special  purpose. 

5.  Rentals 

Public  property  used  for  private  purposes 
on  a  short  period  lease  usually  pays  a  rental. 
A  public  property  owned  by  nearly  all  cities 
is  a  public  market  wherein  provisions  are  sold. 
To  such  market  come  the  farmers  of  the  adja- 


Finances  of  Cities  51 

cent  country  with  fresh  vegetables  and  fruit. 
Since  purchasers  of  vegetables  desire  at  the 
same  time  to  purchase  other  provisions,  mer- 
chants of  these  products  are  assigned  stalls  in 
the  market  house  for  which  they  pay  rental. 
New  York  City  owns  docks  which  it  rents  to 
steamship  companies.  Likewise  space  beneath 
the  approaches  to  its  large  bridges  is  rented  to 
merchants.  Most  cities  own  property  of  some 
sort  from  which  rentals  are  received. 

6.  Franchises 

Some  portion  of  nearly  all  cities'  income  is 
derived  from  franchises.  The  distinction  be- 
tween a  franchise  and  a  rental  or  lease  is  that 
a  rental  or  lease  is  an  amount  charged  for  the 
use  of  improved  public  property,  such  as  a 
building  or  other  structure.  The  right  to  use 
unimproved  public  property  is  usually  called  a 
franchise.  A  corporation  may  secure  a  fran- 
chise to  build  and  operate  a  street  car  line  in 
a  public  street.  Likewise  the  right  to  use  the 
subsurface  of  streets  for  conduits  or  pipe  lines 
is  granted  through  the  form  of  a  franchise. 
Such  franchises  in  past  years  were  in  many 
cities  granted  in  perpetuity,  or  for  999  years. 
Today  it  is  the  general  practice  to  limit  them 
to  a  term  of  years,  seldom  exceeding  fifty,  and 
often  not  more  than  twenty-five  years.  A 
form  of  franchise  at  present  generally  used  is 


52  The  American  City 

a  grant  revocable  after  the  expiration  of  ten 
years  with  compensation  to  the  holder  of  the 
franchise  for  the  termination  of  privileges. 

A  good  illustration  of  the  difference  between 
a  franchise  and  a  rental  is  the  two  forms  of 
grants  for  the  elevated  roads  and  the  subway 
in  New  York  City.  The  elevated  roads  were 
built  by  a  corporation  under  a  perpetual  fran- 
chise. The  subway  was  built  by  the  city  and 
leased  or  rented  to  a  corporation  for  a  period 
of  fifty  years,  with  a  privilege  of  renewal  of 
the  lease  for  twenty-five  years.  In  the  first 
instance  a  franchise  was  granted  for  the  use 
of  the  public  street ;  in  the  second  an  improved 
property  was  rented  for  a  period  of  years. 

For  a  franchise  the  holder  pays  the  city  a 
flat  amount  yearly  or  a  stipulated  proportion 
of  the  gross  or  net  receipts  from  operation. 
Such  payment  is  for  the  occupation  and  use  of 
public  property. 

Franchises  or  leases  are  usually  granted  by 
a  board  of  aldermen  or  council.  In  New  York 
City  this  power  was  taken  away  from  the 
Board  of  Aldermen  and  placed  in  the  hands  of 
the  Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment,  the 
appropriating  and  approving  body  of  the  city. 
Usually  a  franchise  cannot  be  granted  without 
holding  public  hearings  at  which  citizens  may 
enter  objections.  In  some  cities  it  is  provided 
by  law  that  a  referendum  may  be  held  to  reg- 


Finances  of  Cities  53 

ister  the  verdict  of  the  voters  as  to  the  wisdom 
of  granting  a  proposed  franchise.  In  Cleve- 
land and  Chicago  such  referendums  have  been 
held  and  the  franchises  granted  were  those 
approved  by  the  majority  of  the  voters.  The 
street  railway  franchise  approved  by  the  voters 
of  Cleveland  provided  that  the  compensation 
to  be  received  by  the  city  was  to  be  in  the  form 
of  reduced  fares  for  rides.  In  Chicago  the 
franchise  approved  fixed  the  fare  at  five  cents, 
and  stipulated  that  a  proportion  of  the  receipts 
should  be  paid  to  the  city  for  the  grant.  The 
compensation  in  Cleveland  leaves  more  money 
in  the  pockets  of  the  citizens;  in  Chicago  a 
fund  is  paid  into  the  treasury  which  may  be 
used  to  extend  transit  facilities. 

The  foregoing  are  the  chief  forms  of  income 
to  cities.  The  state  usually  reserves  to  itself 
the  right  to  impose  taxes  for  the  right  to  do 
corporate  business,  to  carry  on  traffic  in  spirit- 
uous liquors,  and  some  other  forms  of  taxa- 
tion. The  Federal  Government  can  impose 
any  kind  of  a  uniform  tax  necessary  for  the 
purpose  of  government.  In  times  of  peace 
these  forms  are  restricted  to  import  duties, 
internal  revenue  imports,  and  income  taxes. 

7.  Expenditures 

The  expenditures  of  a  city  in  theory  are 
based  upon  a  budget.     The  budget  is  an  esti- 


54  The  American  City 

mate,  in  more  or  less  detail,  as  applied  to  each 
department,  of  the  proposed  expenditures  of 
these  departments.  In  practice  few  cities  have 
a  closely  classified  budget.  Most  of  the  appro- 
priations are  made  to  the  various  departments 
in  blanket  amount.  Within  the  last  few  years 
much  emphasis  has  been  laid  upon  the  value 
and  economy  of  a  segregated  budget  wherein 
all  anticipated  expenditures  are  minutely  sub- 
divided. New  York  City  is  taking  the  lead 
in  budget  making.  Two  months  before  the 
budget  is  to  be  passed  upon,  each  department 
must  submit  its  estimate.  This  estimate  sets 
forth  every  salary  to  be  paid,  the  amount  re- 
quired for  each  class  of  supplies,  each  piece  of 
work.  The  estimate  as  submitted  is  considered 
by  a  budget  committee  which  holds  public 
hearings. 

When  the  appropriation  is  made  funds  must 
be  used  for  the  items  specified  in  the  budget 
and  no  substitution  or  transfer  can  be  made 
except  by  authorization  of  the  Board  of  Esti- 
mate and  Apportionment.  The  amount  appro- 
priated for  19 1 3  was  about  $192,000,000.  In 
addition  to  this  amount  the  city  is  permitted 
by  the  charter  to  issue  not  to  exceed  $2,000,000 
during  the  year  of  short  term  notes,  the  liqui- 
dation of  which  must  be  provided  for  in  the 
budget  of  the  following  year.  Many  cities  are 
not  permitted  to  expend  any  money  not  pro- 


Finances  of  Cities  55 

vided  for  in  the  budget  except  to  meet  some 
unforeseen  catastrophe,  epidemic,  or  great 
emergency. 

The  control  of  expenditures  depends  in  a 
large  measure  upon  the  degree  to  which  the 
budget  is  subdivided.  If  the  proposed  expen- 
ditures of  a  department  are  segregated  into 
many  classifications  and  items,  and  appropria- 
tions made  for  each,  the  amounts  so  set  aside 
can  be  used  only  for  the  purposes  defined  in 
the  appropriation.  Where  this  is  not  the  prac- 
tice there  is  a  tendency  to  ask  for  an  appropria- 
tion for  one  purpose  and  to  use  it  for  another. 
Occasions  not  infrequently  arise  when  it  is 
advisable  to  transfer  appropriations  made  for 
one  purpose  to  another.  The  power  to  make 
such  transfer  can  be  safely  exercised  only 
by  the  board  having  made  the  original 
appropriation. 

Each  department  makes  estimates  of  its  cur- 
rent and  additional  needs  for  the  next  year. 
These  requests  are  weighed  against,  and 
compared  with,  those  from  other  depart- 
ments and  a  decision  is  reached  as  to  the  rela- 
tive desirability  of  the  proposed  new  expen- 
ditures. 

No  attempt  is  made  to  determine  whether 
or  not  the  amount  being  expended  for  a  par- 
ticular activity  bears  a  proper  proportion  to 
that  expended  for  other  activities.     It  might 


S6 


The  American  City 


be  possible  to  determine  within  reasonable 
limits  the  proportion  of  the  total  expenditures 
which  should  be  allotted  to  police,  or  to  fire 
protection,  to  educational  purposes,  to  parks 
and  playgrounds,  to  protection  of  health,  and 
to  the  care  of  the  sick  and  the  poor.  Standard 
ratios  of  such  expenditures  have  not  been  de- 
termined. As  a  result  budgets  in  practically 
all  cities  are  based  upon  the  amount  used  for 
the  various  activities  the  previous  year,  irre- 
spective of  the  fact  that  either  more  or  less 
was  used  than  should  have  been  used  in  any 
particular  activity. 

It  is  of  interest  to  note  the  proportions  of 
the  total  expenditures  devoted  to  the  various 
activities  in  representative  cities.  The  follow- 
ing percentages  are  taken  from  the  United 
States  Census  report  on  cities  for  19 12.  The 
figures  given  are  the  percentages  of  the  total 
expenditures  for  general  departments: 


(3 

ax3  a 

Number  of 

«aS 

S 

s 

Population 

P  ^  0 

^ 

0 

^«o 

P^ 

W 

Group       I 

500,000  and  over 

4.5 

12.9 

2.1 

Group     II 

300,000  to  500,000 

3.7 

10.7 

2.1 

Group  III 

100,000  to  300,000 

0.9 

10.8 

2.0 

Group   IV 

50,000  to  100,000 

0.5 

10.7 

2.0 

Group     V 

30,000  to     50,000 

0.5 

9.1 

1.6 

Finances  of  Cities 


57 


a 
0 
53 

J 

1 

Number  of 

5 

V 

Population 

a 

% 

a> 

xn 

0 

» 

Group       I 

500,000  and  over 

8.2 

8.1 

4.1 

Group     II 

300,000  to  500,000 

7.6 

7.6 

3-7 

Group  III 

100,000  to  300,000 

8.8 

4.1 

3-7 

Group   IV 

50,000  to  100,000 

8.4 

3.1 

2.7 

Group    V 

30.000  to     50,000 

7.2 

3.6 

2.3 

By  reviewing  the  figures  of  the  above  table 
it  will  be  noted  that  in  each  case  there  is  a 
marked  decrease  in  percentages  from  the  group 
containing  the  largest  cities  to  that  including 
the  smaller  cities.  These  figures  tend  to  con- 
firm the  general  belief  that  the  massing  of  peo- 
ple together  creates  artificial  conditions  which 
are  expensive  to  overcome ;  the  larger  the  city 
the  more  need  for  police  protection,  with  a 
concomitant  expense  for  courts;  health  and 
sanitation  are  guarded  with  greater  difficulty; 
charities  in  the  larger  cities  are  more  largely 
met  from  the  public  treasury  than  through  the 
donations  of  neighbors,  as  in  the  smaller  cities; 
recreation  in  the  form  of  parks  and  play- 
grounds are  less  needed  in  the  smaller  than  in 
the  larger  cities. 

The  census  gives  figures  also  on  the  cost  for 
fire  protection,  highways,  and  education.  In 
each  of  these  groups  the  per  capita  cost  is  less 


58  The  American  City 

for  the  smaller  cities  than  for  the  larger ;  but 
the  ratio  of  the  expenditures  for  each  to  the 
total  governmental  expenditure  is  greater  for 
the  smaller  cities.  This  is  due,  no  doubt,  to 
the  fact  that  when  the  same  service  is  rendered 
in  the  smaller  cities  as  in  the  larger,  the  ratio 
of  cost  will  be  greater,  owing  to  the  relative 
greater  area  occupied  by  the  smaller  cities. 
The  per  capita  cost  for  all  general  departmental 
expenditures  in  the  larger  cities  was  $21.24, 
while  in  the  smaller  it  was  but  $11.09,  indicat- 
ing that  the  expense  of  living  together  in  cities 
is  less  when  the  mass  is  small  than  when  large. 

8.  Permanent  Improvements 

Permanent  improvements  in  some  cities  are 
paid  for  out  of  current  taxes.  In  most  cities, 
however,  material,  equipment,  and  structures 
having  a  life  of  more  than  a  few  years  are  pur- 
chased through  the  issue  of  bonds.  The  gen- 
eral theory  is  that  the  life  of  the  bonds  shall 
not  exceed  the  life  of  the  object  for  which  the 
bonds  were  issued.  In  practice  this  theory  is 
largely  ignored.  Not  infrequently  bonds  for 
pavements  will  be  issued  for  twenty  or  even 
fifty  years,  while  the  life  of  the  pavement  may 
not  exceed  ten  to  fifteen  years.  As  a  result  of 
issuing  bonds  having  a  longer  life  than  the 
project  for  which  they  were  issued,  the  debt  of 
the   city   gradually   increases   without   repre- 


Finances  of  Cities  59 

senting  any  existing  physical  property  or 
improvement. 

The  objects  for  which  bonds  are  usually 
issued  are  public  buildings  and  furnishings, 
parks,  playgrounds,  sewers,  pavements,  light- 
ing equipment,  bridges,  water  supply,  gas,  and 
electric  light  plants,  etc.  The  expenditures  for 
these  purposes  are  more  often  made  through 
contract  with  private  parties  or  firms,  who  per- 
form the  work  and  furnish  the  material.  These 
projects  when  completed  are  operated  and 
maintained  by  a  regular  force  employed  by  the 
city  and  paid  out  of  current  taxes. 

p.  "^udit  and  Control  of  Expenditures 

Cities  vary  greatly  in  the  degree  to  which 
attempt  is  made  to  control  expenditures.     All 

cities  have  an  officer  who  audits  bills.     This 

* 

auditing  consists  in  seeing  that  bills  are  prop- 
erly drawn  and  charged  against  the  right  ap- 
propriation. Some  auditors  are  given  power 
to  see  that  contracts  are  properly  drawn;  a 
suitable  quality  of  goods  purchased;  speci- 
fications established;  goods  inspected  on  de- 
livery ;  supplies  economically  used.  An  auditor 
with  these  broad  powers  is  able  to  secure  the 
greatest  economy  in  expenditures.  Such 
powers  cannot  be  exercised  without  an  ade- 
quate clerical  and  inspectional  force.  The 
auditor,  or  comptroller  as  he  is  called,  of  New 


6o  The  American  City 

York  City  employs  a  force  of  about  725  em- 
ployees, and  the  expense  of  running  his  office 
is  about  $1,600,000  yearly.  This  does  not  in- 
clude the  department  of  the  city  chamberlain. 
The  latter  department  handles  the  funds  of  the 
city  and  pays  all  bills  on  vouchers  by  the 
comptroller. 

The  control  of  purchases  exercised  by  the 
auditor  may  be  illustrated  somewhat  as  fol- 
lows: Among  the  supplies  purchased  by  a 
municipal  hospital  is  butter.  Some  officer  de- 
fines the  specifications  under  which  the  hos- 
pital shall  advertise  for  bids  to  supply  its  but- 
ter. A  contract  is  let  by  the  hospital  to  the 
lowest  responsible  bidder  who  agrees  to  furnish 
butter  of  a  quality  specified.  On  delivery  of 
the  butter  the  auditor  or  comptroller  sends  an 
inspector  to  determine  whether  or  not  it  agrees 
in  quality  to  the  specifications,  and  in  quantity 
to  the  amount  ordered  and  billed.  When  the 
bill  is  sent  to  the  comptroller  for  approval 
there  must  be  indicated  on  its  face  the  appro- 
priation against  which  it  is  drawn  and  is  to  be 
charged.  If  this  has  been  correctly  done,  and 
if  the  appropriation  has  not  been  overdrawn, 
the  bill  is  approved  and  an  order  issued  against 
the  treasurer  for  payment.  A  complete  record 
is  kept  in  the  comptroller's  office  of  all  bills 
approved  and  ordered  paid.  A  record  of  such 
bills  is  also  kept  in  the   department  having 


Finances  of  Cities  6i 

purchased  the  material  which  the  bill  repre- 
sents. These  two  records  can  be  checked  one 
against  the  other  and  a  correct  accounting  is 
thus  insured. 

Some  cities  have  an  officer  whose  function 
is  to  examine  the  books  of  departments  to 
determine  whether  or  not  economy  is  prac- 
ticed or  affairs  are  honestly  conducted.  In 
New  York  City  this  function  is  performed  by 
commissioners  of  accounts  who  are  directly 
responsible  to  the  mayor.  On  his  order  they 
may  examine  into  the  conduct  of  any  depart- 
ment. They  have  the  power  to  subpoena  and 
take  testimony  under  oath. 

10.  Publicity 

Publicity  is  the  chief  guardian  of  appropria- 
tions and  expenditures.  Cities  differ  in  the 
kind  and  amount  of  publicity  required  before 
appropriations  or  contracts  are  made.  In  some 
cities  the  only  means  provided  for  publicity  of 
a  proposed  appropriation  is  that  final  action 
cannot  be  taken  by  the  council  until  the  expira- 
tion of  a  specified  number  of  days  following 
the  introduction  of  a  resolution  providing  for 
such  appropriation.  In  other  cities,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  time  requirements,  one  or  more  pub- 
lic hearings  must  be  held.  In  still  other  cities 
such  resolutions,  in  addition  to  the  foregoing 
provisions,  must  be  advertised  in  specified  pa- 


62  The  American  City 

pers.  The  chief  source  of  publicity,  however, 
is  the  daily  papers,  whose  reporters  watch  all 
official  proceedings  and  create  sentiment  for  or 
against  measures.  New  York  City  publishes  a 
daily  paper,  called  the  City  Record,  in  which  all 
proposals  for  contract  are  advertised,  all  hear- 
ings set  forth,  all  actions  by  boards  or  depart- 
ments are  recorded.  This  contains  more  mat- 
ter than  any  other  daily  paper  published  in  the 
United  States. 


CHAPTER  IV 

PROTECTION  OF  PROPERTY,   LIFE,  AND  HEALTH 

THE  assembling  of  people  together  into  a 
city  produces  many  problems,  with  rela- 
tion to  property,  life,  and  health,  not  existing 
in  country  districts.  As  a  population  center 
increases  from  a  town  to  a  small  city  and  then 
to  a  large  one,  conditions  become  more  and 
more  complicated;  new  and  additional  meas- 
ures and  governmental  machinery  are  required 
to  meet  these  new  conditions. 

J.  Protection  of  Property  and  Life 

Police  Patrol. — ^The  assembling  together 
of  many  forms  of  valuable  property  in  cities 
offers  great  temptation  and  opportunity  to  the 
thief.  Country  residences  and  stores  contain* 
things  of  less  value,  consequently  less  guard- 
ing is  necessary  in  rural  districts.  More- 
over, a  stranger  in  a  country  place  is  at  once 
recognized  as  a  non-resident,  which  fact,  if 
he  be  a  thief,  renders  escape  difficult.  A 
city  is  the  best  of  hiding  places,  since  most 
citizens  are  strangers  one  to  another.  This  is 
one  reason  thieves  congregate  in  cities.  Rob- 
bery is  rendered  easy,  and  property  must  be 

.    63 


64  The  American  City 

protected  by  special  officers.  Such  officers  are 
called  police  officers,  and  are  usually  appointed 
by,  and  are  subject  to,  the  local  city. 

The  police  force  is  generally  headed  by  a 
chief  of  police  who  has  the  power  to  appoint 
and  discharge  patrolmen  subject  to  restrictions 
of  civil  service,  where  such  regulations  exist. 
The  force  is  organized  somewhat  as  an  army, 
with  ranks  of  captain,  lieutenant,  sergeant,  and 
patrolman,  each  having  defined  responsibilities. 
This  peace  army  patrols  the  streets  both  day 
and  night,  protecting  property,  and  arresting 
offenders  against  local  ordinances  and  state 
laws.  In  New  York  this  army  numbers  above 
10,400  men;  in  Chicago,  4,440;  in  Boston, 
1,670.  The  cost  of  this  protection  varies  in 
different  cities.  In  New  York  it  is  $2.99  per 
capita  of  population;  in  Chicago,  $2.90;  in 
Boston,  $3.02;  in  St.  Louis,  $2.84;  in  Denver, 
$1.31 ;  in  San  Francisco,  $3.21. 

Fire  Protection. —  Fire  hazard  is  much 
greater  in  cities  than  in  the  country,  owing  to 
the  proximity  of  buildings.  This  hazard  would 
be  extreme  were  it  not  for  the  constant  vigi- 
lance of  firemen,  ready  with  engines  and  ap- 
paratus to  extinguish  or  control  a  fire.  Most 
cities  are  districted  with  an  engine  house  in 
each  district,  wherein  are  constantly  on  guard 
a  force  of  firemen.  Some  cities,  in  addition  to 
fire   engines,   are   installing  a  high  pressure 


Property,  Life  and  Health  65 

water  system.  This  consists  of  water  mains 
not  unlike  the  mains  used  for  the  regular  water 
supply,  but  heavier  and  firmly  fastened  at  the 
joints  so  as  to  withstand  a  high  pressure.  Con- 
nected to  and  a  part  of  the  system  is  one  or 
more  powerful  pumping  stations.  As  soon  as 
a  fire  is  announced  in  the  district  served  by 
the  system,  the  pumps  are  started  and  a  high 
pressure  maintained  in  the  pipes;  fire  hose  is 
then  attached  to  a  hydrant  convenient  to  the 
fire.  By  this  means  a  much  greater  pres- 
sure can  be  produced  than  by  the  ordinary 
portable  fire  engine.  Such  a  system  is  in 
operation  in  the  wholesale  district  of  New 
York. 

Large  cities  have  a  fire  signal  system  oper- 
ated by  electricity.  This  consists  of  boxes  lo- 
cated at  convenient  points,  from  which  wires 
run  to  a  central  station.  A  signal  sent  from 
any  box  at  once  indicates  at  the  central  station 
the  approximate  location  of  the  fire.  The  fire 
company  nearest  the  fire  is  notified,  and  usually 
within  five  minutes  it  will  have  fire  hose  ready 
to  play  upon  the  fire.  Smaller  cities  frequently 
are  equipped  with  fire  apparatus,  but  depend 
upon  volunteers  to  operate  it.  The  suburbs 
of  even  the  larger  cities  are  usually  served  by 
volunteer  companies.  Though  these  citizens 
are  not  paid  for  their  services,  yet  they  usually 
receive  some  indirect  favors  in  the  form  of 


66  The  American  City 

exemption  from  jury  duties,  and  occasionally 
a  preference  on  civil  service  lists. 

The  cost  of  maintaining  fire  companies 
varies  in  different  cities,  depending  upon  the 
efficiency  of  the  service  and  the  wages  paid. 
The  yearly  cost  in  New  York  is  about  $7,255,- 
000,  or  $810  for  each  $1,000,000  worth  of 
property  protected;  in  Chicago,  $3,359.3 13» 
or  $3,752  per  $1,000,000;  in  Cleveland,  $811,- 
808,  or  $1,071  per  $1,000,000. 

Regardless  of  the  vigilance  of  the  fire  com- 
panies the  total  fire  loss  is  very  heavy,  due 
chiefly  to  the  poor  construction  of  buildings. 
On  an  average,  there  are  43  fires  daily  in  New 
York  City,  the  estimated  fire  loss  of  which 
was,  for  1912,  $9,065,273;  in  Chicago  it  was 
$6,162,561;  in  Boston,  $2,397,388.  The  fire 
losses  are  an  extremely  heavy  drain  upon  the 
resources  of  the  cities.  They  are  gradually 
being  reduced  by  more  stringent  building  laws, 
requiring  fireproof  or  semi-fireproof  buildings 
within  specified  zones.  The  fire  loss  in  German 
cities  is  greatly  lessened  by  better  building  con- 
struction. The  average  fire  loss  in  American 
cities  is  about  $2.55  per  capita  of  population; 
in  German  cities  about  $0.20  per  capita  of 
population. 

The  fire  loss  in  cities  is  an  indirect  form  of 
taxation  —  taxation  in  the  sense  that  it  is  an 
outlay  for  the  privilege  of  having  a  building 


Property,  Life  and  Health  67 

or  establishment  in  a  city.  A  portion  of  the 
tax  is  expended  in  maintaining  a  fire  de- 
partment and  a  portion  goes  to  the  insur- 
ing companies  for  bearing  the  extra  fire 
hazard. 

Street  Lighting. —  Streets  must  be  lighted 
at  night  for  the  protection  of  both  property 
and  life.  In  protecting  property,  these  lights 
act  both  in  a  positive  and  negative  way.  With- 
out lights,  patrolmen  could  not  guard  property 
against  burglary,  and  in  illuminated  streets 
thieves  seldom  attempt  to  steal.  When  bur- 
glaries have  been  committed  the  lighted  streets 
make  it  difficult  to  escape  unnoticed  with 
booty.  Lighted  streets  protect  life  by  lessen- 
ing the  opportunities  for  footpads  to  waylay 
people,  by  revealing  approaching  vehicles,  by 
revealing  evidence  when  a  crime  has  been 
committed. 

A  good  illustration  of  the  latter  service  of 
light  in  streets  was  the  recording  of  evidence 
which  subsequently  led  to  a  remarkable  series 
of  convictions  of  police  officials  in  New  York 
by  the  district  attorney  in  191 2.  A  gambler 
was  murdered  at  night  in  front  of  a  leading 
hotel  on  a  principal  street.  The  murderers 
escaped  in  an  automobile  from  which  the 
license  number  had  not  been  removed.  A  pass- 
ing citizen  was  able  to  take  note  of  the  number, 
due  to  the  illuminated  street.     This  number 


68  The  American  City 

led  to  the  arrest  and  conviction  of  the  mur- 
derers, and  through  evidence  gained  in  connec- 
tion with  the  trial,  several  police  officers  were 
convicted  of  blackmailing  and  offenses  con- 
nected therewith. 

Though  gas  is  used  for  lighting  in  some 
suburban  sections,  the  main  portions  of  nearly 
all  cities  are  illuminated  with  electric  light. 
Some  cities  own  and  operate  the  gas  and  elec- 
tric systems.  The  majority  of  cities,  however, 
purchase  light  from  a  private  corporation,  pay- 
ing an  agreed-upon  rate  for  each  light. 

The  cost  of  lighting  streets  varies  in  cities, 
according  to  the  contract  price  for  lights  and 
the  number  of  lights  used.  The  approximate 
cost  per  i,ooo  inhabitants  in  the  following 
cities  is:  New  York,  $567;  Boston,  $1,004; 
Philadelphia,  $490;  Chicago,  $318;  New  Or- 
leans, $879. 

Regulation  of  Traffic. —  Cities  of  less  than 
200,000  population  seldom  have  traffic  conges- 
tion that  necessitates  regulation.  In  larger 
cities,  however,  the  great  number  of  vehicles 
crossing  at  intersections  of  streets  requires 
regulation  by  special  officers.  These  officers 
are  usually  assigned  by  the  police  department. 
They  stand  at  the  center  of  the  intersecting 
streets  and  by  a  signal  allow  vehicles  to  pass 
along  one  street  for  perhaps  a  minute;  then 
the  traffic  on  the  intersecting  street  is  per- 


Property,  Life  and  Health  69 

mitted  to  pass  for  a  like  period.  By  this  means 
of  regulation  pedestrians  can  cross  either  street 
safely  if  they  cross  with  the  current  of 
vehicles.  Without  such  regulation  traffic 
would  be  greatly  retarded  and  the  life  of  pedes- 
trians endangered.  In  New  York  City  there 
are  about  150  crossings  guarded  daily,  costing 
the  city  above  $705,850  yearly.  In  places  the 
streets  are  so  narrow  and  the  traffic  so  dense 
that  it  becomes  necessary  to  require  vehicles 
to  pass  in  but  one  direction  on  a  given  street 
while  traffic  in  the  opposite  direction  uses  a 
nearby  parallel  street.  Such  method  of 
regulation  is  used  in  Pittsburgh,  where  the 
business  district  is  confined  to  a  very  small 
area. 

Street  Obstruction. —  All  large  cities  have 
ordinances  regulating  temporary  and  perma- 
nent street  obstructions.  The  temporary  ob- 
structions take  the  form  of  building  material, 
boxes  of  merchandise,  excavations  in  the 
streets,  vehicles  standing  along  the  curb.  Per- 
manent obstructions  may  be  in  the  form  of 
projecting  bow  windows,  stairways,  areaways. 
Usually  one  or  more  departments  are  empow- 
ered to  regulate  the  temporary  obstructions. 
Merchants  may  be  permitted  to  use  the  side- 
walks for  shipping  boxes  during  fixed  hours 
of  the  day;  builders  may  be  required  to  build 
a  temporary  passageway  over  the  sidewalk  and 


70  The  American  City 

to  permit  no  material  to  remain  in  the  street; 
street  openings  for  the  purpose  of  laying  pipes 
may  be  restricted  to  a  limited  number  of  hours. 
All  these  regulations  are  made  that  traffic  may 
not  be  hindered  or  the  life  of  pedestrians 
endangered. 

Not  infrequently  a  city  will  permit  the  use 
of  a  portion  of  the  sidewalk  for  projecting 
stairways,  areas,  etc.  Such  permits  do  not 
entitle  the  owner  to  a  permanent  use  of  the 
street,  but  a  use  only  until  the  city  considers  it 
necessary  to  have  an  unobstructed  sidewalk. 
Until  the  present  time,  New  York  buildings 
were  permitted  partially  to  occupy  the  sidewalk 
space.  Recently  the  congestion  of  foot  traffic 
in  some  streets  became  so  great  that  it  was 
necessary  for  the  city  to  reclaim  the  sidewalk 
space  by  ordering  the  owners  of  buildings  to 
remove  encroachments.  During  the  years  191 1 
and  191 2  encroachments  were  removed  which 
are  estimated  to  have  cost  the  owners  not  less 
than  $3,500,000  for  such  removals. 

Inspection  of  Boilers,  Elevators,  and  Street 
Signs. —  All  steam  boilers  carrying  over  a  cer- 
tain pressure  are  usually  classified  as  unsafe, 
and  the  operators  are  required  to  employ  a 
licensed  fireman  only.  Firemen  are  examined 
by  some  city  department,  and  if  found  com- 
petent are  licensed  to  attend  a  steam  plant. 
The  supposition  is  that  unless  steam  plants  are 


Property,  Life  and  Health  71 

attended  by  firemen  with  some  degree  of 
knowledge  of  such  plants  life  might  be  en- 
dangered. 

Elevators  carrying  passengers  are  regulated 
as  to  construction  and  safety  appliances.  Peri- 
odically these  are  examined  to  determine  the 
condition  of  the  cables  and  parts.  If  any  por- 
tion is  found  defective,  the  owner  can  be  re- 
quired to  stop  the  use  of  the  elevator  until  it 
is  put  in  a  safe  and  satisfactory  condition. 
Some  cities  require  a  type  of  elevator  that  can- 
not be  started  until  the  door  of  the  elevator  is 
closed.  Other  cities  require  in  addition  that 
each  elevator  shall  be  equipped  with  a  gate 
which  shall  be  closed  before  the  elevator  is 
started.  All  such  regulations  are  for  the  safety 
of  the  passengers.  Enforcement  of  these  regu- 
lations requires  constant  inspection. 

Street  signs  if  not  securely  fastened  are  a 
source  of  danger  when  hanging  above  pedes- 
trians' heads.  Regulations  are  made  as  to  the 
height  of  such  signs  above  the  sidewalk,  the 
method  of  support  or  fastening,  and  the  type 
of  construction. 

Eleemosynary  Institutions. —  The  problem 
of  caring  for  the  poor  is  greater  in  cities  than 
in  country  districts.  Ordinarily,  a  rural  county 
will  support  an  almshouse  located  on  a  farm, 
which  partially  defrays  expenses.  The  net  ex- 
pense of  such  an  institution  is  not  likely  to  be 


']2  The  American  City 

more  than  $3,000  to  $5,000  annually,  which 
may  not  be  more  than  twelve  cents  to  twenty 
cents  per  capita  of  population  in  the  county. 
The  poor  in  the  country  are  more  largely  cared 
for  by  neighbors  and  acquaintances.  In  the 
city  the  poor  are  less  likely  to  be  discovered, 
and  much  less  likely  to  have  neighbors  or 
friends  who  care  or  are  willing  to  aid  in  sup- 
port. This  condition  necessitates  the  construc- 
tion and  maintenance  of  city  almshouses 
wherein  the  poor  may  be  cared  for.  In  the 
largest  cities  special  departments  are  main- 
tained to  administer  these  almshouses.  Or- 
phaned and  homeless  children  must  be  cared 
for,  and  institutions  are  constructed  for  them. 
The  maintenance  of  these  two  classes  of  de- 
pendents, including  any  "  outdoor  relief,"  given 
during  the  year  19 12  cost  the  indicated  amounts 
for  the  following  cities :  New  York,  $3,878,- 
261;  Chicago,  $1,116,668;  Boston,  $477,918; 
St.  Louis,  $78,316.  The  cost  per  capita  of 
population  ranged  from  $0.77  in  New  York 
to  $0.11  in  St.  Louis. 

Some  cities  give  partial  support  to  indigent 
persons  in  their  homes.  This  custom,  however, 
is  not  general,  and  is  not  considered  the  wisest 
policy.  A  few  states  have  recently  passed  laws 
requiring  each  city  and  locality  to  pension 
widows  with  children.  Such  laws  are  passed 
on  the  theory  that  it  is  better  to  entrust  the  care 


Property,  Life  and  Health  73 

of  children  to  their  own  mother  than  to  an 
institution.  Many  agree  to  this  general  propo- 
sition, yet  oppose  pensions  for  widows,  for 
fear  that  such  a  system  of  home  relief  or 
support  will  lead  to  an  unwise  distribution  of 
public  funds. 

Though  the  friendly  interest  and  support 
given  by  neighbors  to  the  poor  in  country  dis- 
tricts does  not  exist  to  any  great  extent  in 
cities,  yet  it  may  be  said  that  the  deserving,  as 
also  the  undeserving,  poor  are  well  housed  and 
fed  in  the  cities  by  means  of  public  institutions 
and  private  charitable  associations. 

Pensions. —  Some  cities  provide  pensions  for 
a  portion  of  those  who  have  rendered  many 
years  of  public  service.  The  pension  fund  is 
usually  supplied  by  levies  upon  the  wages  of 
the  employees,  supplemented  by  fines,  special 
incomes,  as  from  the  sale  of  discarded  material, 
and  by  direct  payment  by  the  city.  More  fre- 
quently a  pension  fund  is  created  for  a  depart- 
ment wherein  nearly  all  the  employees  perform 
similar  services,  such  as  school  teachers,  fire- 
men, policemen,  street  cleaners,  etc.  The  pen- 
sion system  tends  to  promote  stability  in 
service. 

Some  cities  provide  a  yearly  dole  or  pension 
to  the  blind  who  live  outside  of  institutions  for 
the  blind.  Usually  the  allotment  does  not  ex- 
ceed $50  annually.     This,  however,   supple- 


74  T^^^  American  City 

merited  by  the  personal  earnings,  provides  a 
meager  living. 

2.  Protection  of  Health 

All  cities  are  giving  increased  attention  to 
the  health  of  citizens.  Early  cities  of  this 
country  had  no  departments  or  officials  charged 
with  the  protection  of  the  health  of  citizens. 
While  cities  were  small,  water  was  supplied  by 
wells,  either  on  private  or  public  property. 
Sewage  was  disposed  of  in  privy  vaults,  or 
cesspools.  As  cities  grew,  the  sewage  became 
a  source  of  danger  to  both  the  water  supply 
and  the  general  health,  and  water  and  sewer 
systems  were  developed.  With  the  advent  of 
these  improvements  it  became  necessary  to  pro- 
vide supervision;  to  watch  the  water  supply 
lest  it  become  contaminated  at  the  source  be- 
came imperative;  a  sewer  system  having  been 
provided,  its  use  must  be  enforced.  Thus 
arose  the  necessity  for  a  health  department. 

Functions  additional  to  these  were  gradually 
assumed,  until  today  the  health  department  of 
a  city  guards  the  health  of  the  citizen  in  a 
large  variety  of  ways.  Foods  on  sale  are  in- 
spected; milk  is  tested  and  dairies  regulated; 
dogs  are  muzzled ;  breeding  places  of  flies  and 
mosquitoes  are  destroyed;  unsanitary  houses 
are  condemned;  troublesome  noises  are  re- 
stricted; keeping  of  animals  is  regulated;  ex- 


Property^  Life  mid  Health  75 

pectorating  in  public  places  is  prohibited;  ob- 
jectionable manufacturing  is  prohibited  or 
restricted;  midwives  are  licensed  and  regu- 
lated ;  school  children  are  inspected  to  discover 
contagious  diseases;  contagious  diseases  are 
quarantined,  and  measures  taken  to  stamp  them 
out;  pasteurized  milk  is  sold  to  mothers,  with 
instructions  for  its  proper  use.  In  addition  to 
the  correctional  measures,  effort  is  made  to 
educate  the  public  in  sanitary  conditions  and 
hygienic  practices. 

To  illustrate  the  above  general  statements, 
the  Health  Department  of  New  York  City 
may  be  described.  Though  the  largest  in  the 
United  States,  yet  it  may  be  considered  typical, 
since  the  health  department  of  most  cities  per- 
forms largely  the  same  range  of  functions. 
The  total  expenditure  of  the  New  York  Health 
Department  for  the  year  191 4  was  $3,248,511. 
.With  this  amount,  various  bureaus  and  depart- 
ments were  operated.  It  operates  four  hos- 
pitals, two  for  pestilential  diseases,  one  for 
tuberculosis,  and  one  for  both  tuberculosis  and 
other  contagious  diseases.  The  cost  of  oper- 
ating these  hospitals  was  $983,220.  In  addi- 
tion to  hospitals,  the  department  maintained 
dispensaries  for  tuberculosis,  with  a  system  of 
district  nursing.  At  these  dispensaries  cases 
were  diagnosed  and,  when  warranted,  treat- 
ment was  given  in  the  home.    During  the  year, 


*](>  The  American  City 

40,707  new  cases  were  handled  by  these 
dispensaries. 

Milk  depots  were  operated  wherein  mothers 
were  instructed  in  sanitation  and  in  the  care  of 
babies  and  in  methods  of  modifying  milk.  Ar- 
rangements were  made  for  the  sale  of  high- 
grade  milk  at  current  market  rates.  When 
a  mother  was  found  too  poor  to  buy  ice, 
provision  was  made  so  that  it  was  furnished 
to  her  free.  Fully  one-half  of  the  childbirths 
in  such  a  city  as  New  York  are  attended 
by  midwives  rather  than  doctors.  These 
midwives  have  been  generally  untutored  and 
ignorant  of  the  precautions  necessary  to  secure 
sanitary  conditions.  The  Health  Department 
now  requires  that  each  midwife  be  licensed, 
and  it  makes  periodic  inspections  of  their 
homes  and  kits  carried  in  attendance  upon 
cases. 

Every  case  of  suspected  contagious  disease 
must  be  at  once  reported  to  the  department. 
Upon  receiving  such  notification  an  inspector 
makes  an  examination  of  the  case,  and  either 
sends  it  to  a  contagion  hospital  or,  if  it  is 
allowed  to  remain  in  the  home,  provides  that 
precaution  be  taken  to  avoid  the  likelihood  of 
a  spread  of  the  contagion.  The  department 
manufactures  anti-toxin  for  diphtheria  and 
virus  for  small-pox,  which  it  issues  gratis  or 
will  administer  on  application. 


Property,  Life  and  Health  yy 

Inspectors  are  sent  into  the  places  of  all 
wholesalers  and  retailers,  to  note  whether  or 
not  the  food  being  offered  for  sale  is  fit  for 
use.  Almost  daily  large  quantities  of  food 
are  destroyed.  During  19 14  the  department 
confiscated  and  destroyed  9,664  tons  of 
food. 

Trained  nurses  are  placed  in  all  public 
schools  to  examine  the  school  children  to  de- 
tect any  contagious  diseases.  If  a  child  has 
any  symptom  which  seems  suspicious,  he  is 
sent  home  and  not  allowed  to  return  to  school 
until  it  is  determined  that  he  has  not  the  dis- 
ease; or,  if  he  has  it,  until  he  has  passed 
the  period  when  he  could  transmit  it  to  others. 
In  this  way,  over  600,000  children  are  under 
constant  inspection. 

Laboratories  are  maintained  wherein  daily 
the  drinking  water  for  the  city  is  tested  to  see 
if  it  contains  typhoid  or  other  dangerous 
germs.  Whenever  more  than  one  case  of 
typhoid  occurs  in  the  same  locality,  an  investi- 
gation is  immediately  made  to  ascertain  the 
source  of  the  contagion.  Not  infrequently  it  is 
located  in  milk  and  then  traced  to  the  farmer 
who  produced  the  milk,  who  is  then  forbidden 
to  send  milk  to  the  city  until  his  milk  is  free 
from  such  germs.  Not  infrequently  the  source 
of  the  contagion  is  traced  to  a  person  who  is, 
or  has  been,  apparently  well.    Such  a  person  is 


y8  The  American  City 

known  as  a  ''typhoid  carrier."  The  depart- 
ment has  power  to  confine  a  carrier  of  disease 
in  a  hospital  until  the  germs  may  be  purged 
from  the  system  of  the  patient. 

Whooping  cough  is  now  recognized  as  being 
a  dangerous,  and  often  a  fatal  disease,  espe- 
cially to  young  children.  The  Department  of 
Health,  to  counteract  its  effect  and  to  lessen  its 
ravages,  is  establishing  clinics  and  day  camps 
exclusively  for  this  disease.  At  these  camps, 
which  are  located  on  the  tops  of  buildings,  or 
on  wharves  or  boats,  children  may  spend  the 
day  and  return  home  for  the  night.  In  this 
way  they  avoid  contact  with  other  children  and 
are  kept  in  the  open  air,  which  hastens  their 
recovery. 

Since  flies  and  mosquitoes  have  been  recog- 
nized as  carriers  of  disease,  the  department  has 
put  forth  especial  efforts  toward  their  exter- 
mination. By  its  orders  all  privy  vaults  must 
be  screened  and  barn  manure  must  be  kept  in 
vaults  or  treated  to  kill  the  fly  grubs.  To  ex- 
terminate the  mosquitoes,  many  hundreds  of 
acres  of  marsh  land  have  been  ditched  to  drain 
off  any  water  which  might  collect  in  pools. 
This  process  has  greatly  reduced  the  number 
of  mosquitoes,  and  ultimately  will  no  doubt 
exterminate  them. 

Dead  animals  found  on  the  streets  or  public 
places  are  removed  by  the  department.    Since 


Property,  Life  and  Health  79 

the  carcasses  of  animals  are  of  value,  it  is  pos- 
sible for  the  department  to  contract  for  this 
removal  at  a  profit  to  the  city. 

By  its  order,  all  dogs  are  required  to  be 
muzzled  to  avoid  the  liability  of  transmitting 
rabies  by  means  of  their  bite. 

The  department  has  the  broadest  powers 
touching  all  health  matters,  and  can  issue  any 
orders  designed  to  maintain  sanitary  condi- 
tions. It  is  endowed  with  legal  power  and  can 
enforce  its  orders  without  recourse  to  the  local 
or  state  legislature. 

In  most  cities,  as  in  New  York  City,  gar- 
bage is  removed  by  some  department  other 
than  the  Health  Department.  In  New  York 
City  the  Street  Cleaning  Department  is  charged 
with  this  function.  The  householder  places 
his  garbage  cans  on  the  sidewalk,  and  the  men 
of  the  department  empty  them  into  wagons. 
The  wagons  are  driven  to  a  wharf,  where  they 
are  dumped  into  a  barge,  and  when  full,  these 
barges  are  towed  out  to  sea  and  dumped.  Re- 
cently a  contract  has  been  made  with  a  firm 
which  pays  the  city  for  the  garbage.  From  the 
garbage  it  extracts  fats  and  other  ingredients 
of  value.  In  addition  to  garbage,  the  depart- 
ment removes  trade  waste  in  the  form  of  paper, 
boxes,  and  refuse.  The  city  undertakes  this 
work  as  a  precaution  against  fire  and  as  a  pro- 
tection to  health.     All  cities   in  the  United 


8o  The  American  City 

States  perform  these  functions  in  much  the 
same  manner. 

Living  conditions  are  regulated  by  most 
cities,  both  by  a  building  department  and  by 
the  health  department.  In  the  larger  cities 
the  building  department  is  sometimes  supple- 
mented by  a  tenement  house  department. 
One  function  to  be  performed,  whether  by  a 
building  department  or  by  a  separate  tene- 
ment department,  is  a  restriction  of  the  pro- 
portion of  a  lot  that  may  be  built  upon;  the 
area  of  courts;  window  openings;  toilet  facili- 
ties; fire  escapes,  etc.  These  regulations  may 
be  illustrated  by  the  provisions  in  New  York, 
Duluth,  and  Milwaukee. 

Each  of  these  cities  restricts  the  proportion 
of  the  lot  which  may  be  built  upon,  ranging 
from  ninety  per  cent  for  corner  lots  to  sixty 
per  cent  for  interior  lots.  Interior  courts  are 
required,  with  minimum  width  and  length,  and 
an  increasing  dimension  as  the  surrounding 
building  increases  in  height.  Every  room 
must  have  at  least  one  window,  and  its  area 
shall  not  be  less  than  one-tenth  of  the  floor  area 
of  the  room.  Fire  escapes  are  required  for  all 
tenements,  with  special  provisions  for  access 
to  the  roof.  Toilets  must  be  provided  for  each 
apartment. 

Strenuous  effort  has  been  put  forth  in  each 
of  these  cities  by  reial  estate  holders  to  reduce 


Property,  Life  and  Health  8i 

the  requirements  of  the  tenement  regulations, 
but  with  little  success,  owing  to  their  recog- 
nized value  in  the  protection  of  health  and  life. 

In  addition  to  the  regulation  of  the  tene- 
ment house  law,  the  health  department  may- 
vacate  any  house  because  unsanitary  or  other 
conditions  which  may  make  it  an  unfit  habita- 
tion ;  it  may  declare  any  basement  rooms,  when 
too  damp,  an  unfit  place  in  which  to  live.  The 
building  department  provides  that  plumbing 
shall  be  so  installed  that  all  gases  shall  be  con- 
ducted by  pipes  to  a  point  upon  the  roof  of  the 
building. 

Buildings  for  residence  purposes  with  dark 
interior  rooms,  which  formerly  were  built  with- 
out infringing  any  city  law  or  ordinance,  will 
be  tolerated  in  but  few  cities  today.  In  most 
of  our  large  cities  there  may  still  be  found 
tenement  houses  of  a  depth  of  seventy  feet  to 
one  hundred  feet,  with  no  courts  and  all  in- 
terior rooms  dark  and  unventilated  by  exterior 
windows.  Though  some  of  these  still  exist, 
they  are  of  an  obsolete  type,  and  laws  prevent 
their  duplication. 

In  some  states,  such  as  California,  Kentucky, 
and  New  Jersey,  tenement  houses  are  regulated 
by  state  laws  rather  than  by  ordinances  of  their 
cities. 

In  most  states  working  conditions  are  regu- 
lated by  state  rather  than  city  laws.     This  is 


82  The  American  City 

done  on  the  theory  that  such  restrictions  shall 
apply  equally  in  all  cities,  thus  avoiding  any 
undue  advantage  which  one  city  might  gain 
over  others  by  lax  regulations.  Their  regula- 
tions apply  to  the  number  of  hours  per  week 
a  woman  may  be  employed  in  specified  trades ; 
the  restrictions  of  the  age  at  which  a  child  may 
work,  also  the  hours  of  work;  and  stipulations 
as  to  fire  protection. 

The  laws  regulating  these  matters  in  New 
York  State  may  fairly  illustrate  the  general 
character  of  laws  being  passed  by  most  of  the 
states.  In  substance,  these  laws  make  the  fol- 
lowing provisions : 

No  child  under  fourteen  years  of  age  may  work  at 
any  gainful  occupation. 

No  child  under  sixteen  years  of  age  may  work 
more  than  six  days  or  forty-eight  hours  a  week. 

Every  child  from  fourteen  to  sixteen  years  of 
age,  if  working,  must  have  a  certificate  showing 
birth,  completion  of  school  course  of  not  less  than 
eight  years,  or  the  equivalent  thereof;  passport  or 
baptism  certificate;  physician's  certificate  of  health. 
In  New  York  City  these  certificates,  known  as 
"  working  papers,"  are  issued  by  the  Department  of 
Health. 

No  woman  over  sixteen  years  of  age  may  work 
more  than  six  days  or  fifty-four  hours  a  week,  nor 
more  than  nine  hours  in  one  day ;  nor  before  seven 
A.  M.,  or  after  ten  p.  m.  on  any  day,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  Christmas  holiday  season.  This  applies 
to  women  in  mercantile  establishments.     In  canning 


Property,  Life  and  Health  83 

establishments,  they  may  work  sixty  to  sixty-four 
hours  a  week. 

Not  less  than  forty-five  minutes  must  be  allowed 
for  luncheon  in  mercantile  establishments,  unless 
the  Commissioner  of  Labor  shall  permit  a  shorter 
time.  Male  employes  of  railroad  companies,  tele- 
graph companies,  and  telephone  companies  are  per- 
mitted to  work  longer  hours  than  are  employes  of 
other  concerns.  The  working  day  is  limited  to 
twelve  hours. 

Every  factory  building  over  two  stories  high,  in 
which  more  than  twenty-five  persons  are  employed 
above  the  ground  floor,  shall  be  equipped  with  a  fire 
alarm  system,  with  a  sufficient  number  of  signals 
to  be  clearly  audible  to  all  occupants  thereof.  In 
every  such  building  there  shall  be  a  fi.re  drill  at  least 
once  a  month  which  will  conduct  all  the  occupants 
of  such  building  to  a  place  of  safety,  and  in  which 
all  the  occupants  of  such  building  shall  participate 
simultaneously.  In  New  York  City  the  Fire  Com- 
missioner is  charged  with  the  organization,  super- 
vision, and  regulation  of  such  fire  drills. 

In  every  factory  building  over  seven  stories,  or 
over  ninety  feet  high  in  which  wooden  flooring  or 
wooden  trim  is  used,  and  more  than  200  people 
employed  above  the  seventh  floor,  or  more  than  ninety 
feet  from  the  ground  level  of  such  building,  the 
owner  of  the  building  shall  install  an  automatic 
sprinkler  system  approved  as  to  form  and  manner 
by  the  Fire  Commissioner  in  New  York  City. 

Standpipes  running  from  cellar  to  roof  must  be 
provided  in  all  buildings  over  eighty-five  feet  high. 

Every  factory  shall  be  provided  with  fireproof 
receptacles  for  waste,  cuttings,  rubbish,  etc.  No 
waste  materials  shall  be  permitted  to  accumulate  on 
the  floors.    All  such  waste  materials  must  be  re- 


84  The  American  City 

moved  each  day,  except  that  baled  waste  may  be 
stored  in  a  fireproof  receptacle. 

Gas  jets  must  be  enclosed  by  globes,  wire  cages, 
or  otherwise  protected. 

No  person  is  permitted  to  smoke  in  any  factory. 
A  notice  to  this  effect  is  required  to  be  posted  in 
every  factory  in  English  and  such  other  languages 
as  are  necessary. 

A  steam  or  electric  pump  and  at  -least  one  pas- 
senger elevator  must  be  kept  in  readiness  for  imme- 
diate use,  day  and  night,  by  the  Fire  Department 
in  New  York  City  in  all  buildings  over  150  feet  high. 

Parks  and  playgrounds,  which  do  not  exist 
and  are  not  needed  in  the  country  districts, 
are  an  expense  chargeable  to  cities.  Parks,  as 
first  laid  out,  were  designed  primarily  as  beauty 
spots  rather  than  as  places  essential  to  the  wel- 
iare  of  the  people.  Central  Park,  in  New  York 
City,  was  laid  out  in  1856,  and  was  one  of  the 
first  large  parks  set  aside  by  any  city  in  the 
United  States.  As  designed,  it  provided  for 
no  playgrounds  or  places  of  amusement.  Its 
chief  features  were  beautiful  drives  and  walks 
winding  through  wooded  spots,  relieved  here 
and  there  by  waterways.  In  recent  years,  play- 
grounds for  children,  and  tennis  courts,  have 
been  introduced.  The  more  recent  large  parks 
are  provided  with  golf  links,  ball  grounds,  and 
provision  for  many  sports.  The  large  parks 
in  most  cities  are  too  inaccessible  to  be  used  as 
a  place  of  daily  outing,  and  afford  little  oppor- 


Property,  Life  and  Health  85 

tunity  for  children  to  play,  and  it  has  been 
found  advisable  and  necessary  to  provide  small 
parks  in  congested  areas,  which  are  devoted 
mainly  to  playgrounds. 

Chicago  leads  all  cities  in  playground  facili- 
ties. Its  parkways  so  encircle  the  city  within 
the  residence  district  that  large  areas  are  very 
accessible.  At  various  points,  playgrounds 
have  been  provided,  accompanied  by  swimming 
pools,  libraries,  and  other  forms  of  recreation, 
amusement,  and  entertainment.  Though  New 
York  City  has  many  small  playgrounds,  its 
effort  is  most  distinctive  in  providing  floating 
baths  and  recreation  piers.  These  floating 
baths  are  fully  equipped  bath  houses  surround- 
ing a  large  tank  which  is  submerged  in  the 
water.  The  houses  are  anchored  adjacent 
to  congested  centers  during  the  summer,  and 
in  the  winter  are  removed  to  a  storage 
basin.  The  recreation  piers  are  a  second  story 
added  to  ordinary  commercial  piers.  These 
are  roofed  over,  and  provided  with  comforta- 
ble seats.  Certain  evenings  of  every  week  dur- 
ing the  summer  music  is  furnished  for  danc- 
ing and  entertainment. 

The  130  public  playgrounds  in  New  York 
City  are  distributed  as  follows:  Eleven  ath- 
letic fields;  thirty  baseball  fields;  nineteen 
combination  boys'  and  girls'  playgrounds; 
twenty-one  girls'  playgrounds;    twenty-seven 


86  The  American  City 

boys'  playgrounds;  twenty-two  ''midget" 
playgrounds  for  small  children.  Each  play- 
ground has  a  complete  "first  aid  to  the  in- 
jured" outfit.  The  athletic  fields  have  com- 
plete gymnastic  apparatus,  and  complete  ap- 
paratus for  playing  football,  including  "soc- 
cer" football;  baseball;  basketball;  medicine 
ball;  handball;  golf;  tennis;  running  tracks, 
etc.  The  other  playgrounds  have  benches; 
kindergarten  material  of  all  kinds,  with  in- 
structors for  the  young  children;  apparatus 
for  such  games  as  ring-toss ;  rolling  ball  games ; 
tether  ball;  croquet;  also  jumping  ropes; 
swings;  light  gymnastic  apparatus;  etc.  The 
young  children  are  also  instructed  in  jig-saw, 
raffia  work,  and  drawing. 

During  the  year  1912,  3,142,116  adults  and 
children  partook  of  the  advantages  of  these 
playgrounds.  There  were  field  days,  festivals, 
etc.,  throughout  the  year.  In  the  First  Inter- 
Park  Playground  Athletic  Championship, 
5,000  boys  ranging  in  age  from  seven  to  seven- 
teen entered  in  the  sixteen  events.  Fully 
10,000  people  attended  at  this  field  day.  Pag- 
eants are  held  in  which  the  girls  participate, 
and  folk  dancing  exhibitions  are  given.  Five 
hundred  baseball  teams  were  organized  by  the 
public  playground  authorities  during  the  season 
of  1912.    The  cost  for  1912  was  $39,55576. 

So-called  school   farms  are  also  operated. 


Property,  Life  and  Health  87 

Of  these  there  are  two.  The  appropriation  for 
1 912  was  $18,520.26;  total  membership  of 
plot-owners,  2,173.  Each  plot  is  four  by  eight 
feet,  and  contains  flowers,  field,  and  tuber 
plants.  They  keep  children  off  the  streets  dur- 
ing the  summer,  and  tend  to  destroy  the  gang 
spirit. 

All  cities  are  giving  more  and  more  atten- 
tion to  recreational  features  for  all  people,  and 
especially  for  children.  The  open  fields  minis- 
ter to  the  health  of  children  in  the  country;  the 
city  children,  deprived  of  these  larger  spaces, 
would  grow  up  weakened  in  body  were  not 
some  space  provided  in  which  to  play.  Such 
space  in  the  largest  cities  is  now  purchased 
only  at  great  cost,  a  cost  that  necessarily 
greatly  restricts  the  area  which  can  be  devoted 
to  this  purpose. 

The  moral  health  of  citizens  is  protected  in 
many  ways.  Aside  from  state  laws  which 
regulate  Sunday  observance,  gambling,  prosti- 
tution, and  sale  of  liquor,  local  ordinances  are 
passed  regulating  public  performances,  the- 
atres, moving  pictures,  etc.  Each  city  attempts 
to  define  what  constitutes  an  immoral  play,  and 
plays  deemed  to  be  demoralizing  as  defined 
by  ordinance  are  prohibited.  Ordinances  of 
similar  import  attempt  to  regulate  the 
character  of  moving  pictures  which  may  be 
exhibited.    Display  of  obscene  or  objectionable 


88  The  American  City 

pictures  or  posters  is  usually  restricted  by  ordi- 
nance. 

Prostitution  is  more  often  regulated  by  city 
ordinances  than  by  state  laws.  It  is  a  problem 
so  difficult  to  handle  that  many  different  forms 
of  regulation  have  been  adopted,  with  varying 
degrees  of  success  and  failure.  In  some  cities 
prostitutes  are  periodically  arrested  and  fined, 
which  method  results  in  a  form  of  quasi  license. 
In  other  cities  an  attempt  is  made  to  restrict 
prostitution  to  certain  prescribed  districts.  A 
prohibition  of  soliciting  on  the  streets  is  the 
only  form  of  regulation  used  by  some  cities. 
None  of  these  methods  succeeds  in  greatly  re- 
stricting the  amount  of  prostitution.  The  most 
that  is  accomplished  is  the  restriction  of  flaunt- 
ing publicity.  Young  people  are  thereby  to  a 
certain  extent  kept  in  ignorance  of  its  presence, 
which  results  in  a  measure  of  protection. 

Aesthetic  health  is  guarded  in  a  variety  of 
ways.  Nearly  all  cities,  aside  from  prohibiting 
the  pasting  of  obscene  pictures,  regulate  the 
size,  character,  and  location  of  billboards.  It 
is  usually  considered  that  billboards  that  are 
too  obtrusive,  whether  because  of  size  or  loca- 
tion, are  a  blot  upon  the  picturesqueness  of 
street  or  landscape,  and  can  be  restricted  to  a 
proportion  which  will  not  offend  the  eye.  A 
city  assumes  the  right  to  guard  the  aesthetic  as 
well  as  the  moral  sense.     Accordingly,  ordi- 


Property,  Life  and  Health  89 

nances  are  passed  regulating  the  scattering  of 
papers  and  other  rubbish  in  public  places  and 
in  parks.  Some  cities  have  a  board  or  body 
pass  upon  the  architectural  features  of  all 
monuments  and  public  structures.  In  New 
York  City  no  public  building,  bridge,  monu- 
ment, or  other  structure  can  be  erected  until 
permission  is  granted  by  the  Municipal  Art 
Commission.  In  this  way  the  public  is  guarded 
against  any  grotesque  or  unsightly  structure. 
Several  cities  have  ordinances  regulating  the 
height  of  buildings.  The  regulations  of 
Boston  and  Washington  may  be  used  as 
illustrations. 

The  entire  city  of  Boston  is  divided  into 
two  districts:  District  A,  the  business  sec- 
tion; District  B,  the  residential  area.  In  Dis- 
trict A,  buildings  may  not  exceed  125  feet  in 
height,  and  in  District  B  they  may  not  exceed 
eighty  feet  in  height  except  on  streets  over 
sixty-four  feet  wide,  on  which  streets  buildings 
may  be  erected  to  a  height  of  one  and  one- 
fourth  times  the  width  of  the  street,  but  its 
width  on  each  and  every  abutting  street  must 
be  at  least  one-half  its  height.  No  building  in 
either  district  may  be  of  greater  height  than 
two  and  one-half  times  the  width  of  the  widest 
abutting  street.  This  districting  was  done 
through  a  special  act  of  the  legislature.  Bos- 
ton  resorted  to  both  the   police  power  and 


90  The  American  City 

power  of  eminent  domain  in  restricting  heights 
of  buildings. 

Washington  has  more  stringent  regulations 
of  building  heights  than  any  other  American 
city,  with  the  possible  exception  of  Boston  — 
more  rigid  in  the  residence  section  and  some- 
what more  lenient  in  the  business  section.    All 
streets  are  designated  either  as  business  streets 
or  as  residence  streets.    No  building  on  a  busi- 
ness street  may  be  higher  than  the  width  of 
the  widest  abutting  street  increased  by  twenty 
feet,  with  an  absolute  limitation  of  130  feet. 
There  are  two  exceptions  to  this  rule.    Build- 
ings on  the  north  side  of  Pennsylvania  Ave- 
nue, between  First  and  Fifteenth  Streets,  are 
allowed  an  extreme  height  of  160  feet.    Build- 
ings fronting  or  abutting  on  the  plaza  in  front 
of  the  Union  Station  may  not  exceed  eighty 
feet  in  height.     The  height  of  buildings  on 
residence  streets  is  limited  to  eighty-five  feet, 
but  this  also  has  restrictions.    The  height  may 
not  exceed  the  width  of  the  street,  diminished 
by  ten  feet  on  streets  more  than  seventy  feet 
wide,  nor  sixty  feet  on  streets  between  sixty 
and  seventy  feet  in  width.     The  height  may 
not  exceed  the  width  of  the  street  on  streets 
less  than  sixty  feet  in  width.    The  constitution- 
ality of  these  regulations  has  apparently  not 
been  tested. 

New  York  City  recently  had  a  commission 


Property,  Life  and  Health  91 

studying  the  most  feasible  method  of  regulat- 
ing the  height  of  buildings,  and  now  has  a 
permanent  City  Planning  Commission.  Within 
a  comparatively  short  time  most  cities  will 
probably  consider  that  it  is  advisable  to  restrict 
the  character  and  height  of  buildings  along 
principal  streets. 


CHAPTER  V 

EDUCATION    AND   INSTRUCTION 

THE  early  settlers  in  this  country  recog- 
nized that  education  was  the  foundation 
and  prerequisite  of  good  citizenship.  Natu- 
rally facilities  for  education  must  be  afforded 
to  the  masses  if  all  were  to  participate  intelli- 
gently in  the  government.  Thus  originated 
the  free  public  school  which  all  might  attend, 
and  in  later  years  attendance  became  by  law 
compulsory. 

I.  Organization  and  Administration 

Modern  educational  methods  in  the  United 
States  are  largely  the  result  of  successive  ex- 
periments. The  constant  exchanges  between 
educators  in  late  years  have  enabled  all  com- 
munities to  come  into  possession  of  a  common 
knowledge  of  the  latest  innovations,  and  keep 
pace  with  each  other  in  their  development. 
This  was  quite  different  in  the  earliest  days, 
when  each  hamlet  did  what  it  pleased  about 
schooling,  with  no  outside  supervision  or 
comparison. 

The  district  school  was  the  first  educational 
unit  in  this  country  and  it  still  exists  in  its 
92 


Education  and  Instruction  93 

true  form  in  parts  of  most  of  the  states.  At 
first,  the  administration  was  in  the  hands  of 
the  clergyman  and  selectmen  of  the  town  in 
which  the  district  was  situated.  The  area  of 
the  district  unit  is  determined  by  the  voters. 
While  the  district  unit  cannot  produce  the  most 
satisfactory  results,  it  has  made  possible  the 
elementary  education  of  the  scattered  popula- 
tion, and  it  gave  to  New  England  the  famous 
"little  red  schoolhouse."  But  the  district  is 
under  many  handicaps.  Limited  space,  and 
the  wide  variety  of  the  pupils'  ages  and  mental 
qualities,  prevent  grading;  and  the  unequal 
distribution  of  wealth  leaves  some  districts  far 
behind  others. 

There  is  now  a  strong,  country- wide  move- 
ment to  consolidate  -the  one-teacher  rural 
schools  into  central  schools,  to  which  the  schol- 
ars are  transported  at  public  expense.  In  many 
states  the  district  unit  has  been  largely  super- 
seded by  the  township  unit,  but  where  it  does 
exist  it  is  being  developed  to  its  highest  possi- 
ble efficiency  through  the  systems  of  rural 
supervision  now  coming  widely  into  existence 
under  the  various  titles  of  assistant  county 
superintendents,  rural  school  or  county  super- 
visors, district  superintendents  or  supervisors, 
etc.  Two  classes  have  been  established  to 
which  individual  district  schools  may  attain. 
They  are  "standard"  and  "superior,"  and  in 


94  T'^'^  AjHcrican  City 

Illinois  a  plate  bearing  the  classification  is  at- 
tached to  the  schoolhouses  receiving  the 
awards.  In  other  states  the  classification  is 
carried  on  score  cards,  which  account  also  for 
lower  ratings.  In  some  states  steps  have  been 
taken  to  establish  pupils'  reading  circles  in  or- 
der to  stimulate  reading  among  rural  children. 
The  township  unit  is  practically  a  merger 
of  district  units.  Its  substitution  has  resulted 
in  a  centralization  of  financial  resources  and 
graded  schools. 

J.  The  City  and  Other  Local  Schools 

The  city  unit  is  a  collateral  of  the  township 
unit,  although  naturally  there  is  a  wide  diver- 
gence between  the  two.  Because  of  the  greater 
concentration  of  population  and  wealth  in  the 
cities  they  have  been  the  seat  of  greatest  prog- 
ress in  educational  matters.  Generally  the  city 
school  organization  is  based  on  such  general 
laws  as  apply  to  the  particular  class  in  which 
it  exists.  Special  charters  and  special  legisla- 
tion have  given  to  the  large  cities  organizations 
peculiar  to  each.  But,  with  one  exception,  all 
have  school  boards  and  city  superintendents, 
although  the  former  differ  in  size  and  the  latter 
are  selected  by  varying  methods. 

The  tendency  of  city  school  boards  has  been 
to  exercise  less  personal  supervision  over  edu- 
cational matters  and  to  transfer  such  authority 


Education  and  Instruction  95 

to  the  city  superintendent,  and  in  most  cities 
he  is  responsible  for  the  courses  of  study,  the 
appointment  of  teachers,  selection  of  text 
books,  etc.  The  first  city  superintendent  of 
public  schools  was  appointed  in  Buffalo,  in 
1837,  and  this  is  now  considered  to  have  been 
one  of  the  most  important  steps  in  the  develop- 
ment of  city  school  systems.  By  1855  all  the 
large  cities,  except  Philadelphia,  and  many  of 
the  small  cities,  had  established  the  office  of 
city  superintendent.  A  new  movement,  in  sev- 
eral cities,  is  the  organization  of  an  advisory 
council,  composed  of  the  superintendent,  the 
principals  of  training,  high,  and  elementary 
schools,  and  representatives  from  the  teaching 
staffs  of  these  and  other  types  of  schools. 

School  boards  differ  in  size,  method  of  selec- 
tion, and  duties,  but  the  tendency  is  toward 
small  boards.  In  some  of  the  cities,  almost 
evenly  divided  as  to  importance,  the  board  is 
merely  a  department  of  the  municipal  govern- 
ment and  conforms  to  the  same  general  limita- 
tions governing  other  departments.  In  other 
cities  it  has  the  powers  of  a  separate  public 
corporation,  and  controls  the  raising  and  ex- 
penditure of  its  own  funds.  The  one  excep- 
tion, which  apparently  has  worked  well,  is 
Buffalo,  where  the  management  of  school  mat- 
ters is  entrusted  to  the  city  council. 

Chicago  has  a  board  composed  of  twenty- 


96  The  American  City 

one  members,  appointed  by  the  mayor.  It  is  a 
separate  corporation,  and  in  many  respects  it 
is  independent  of  the  city  council.  The  twenty- 
one  members  of  the  Philadelphia  board  are 
appointed  by  the  county  judges.  Supplemental 
boards,  composed  of  twelve  members  each,  are 
chosen  by  the  people  in  each  ward  and  are 
charged  with  important  inspection  duties.  The 
New  York  board  consists  of  forty-six  mem- 
bers, appointed  by  the  mayor  to  serve  for  five 
years.  The  Board  of  Education  is  authorized 
to  divide  the  city  into  forty-six  districts  every 
five  years,  and  a  local  school  board  is  estab- 
lished in  each  district.  These  local  boards  are 
composed  of  seven  members,  five  of  whom  are 
appointed  by  the  president  of  the  borough  in 
which  the  particular  boards  are  located;  one 
is  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Education,  desig- 
nated by  the  president  of  that  board;  and  the 
district  superintendent  assigned  to  duty  in  the 
particular  district.  The  duties  of  the  local 
boards  include  certain  inspections,  and  they 
also  exercise  certain  administrative  and  judi- 
cial functions.  St.  Louis  has  a  board  consist- 
ing of  twelve  members,  elected  by  the  people. 
It  is  a  separate  corporation,  levying  its  own 
taxes  and  not  answering  in  any  way  to  the 
municipal  assembly,  but  a  provision  exists  for 
the  removal  of  any  member  upon  popular  ini- 
tiative.   Boston,  in  1905,  reduced  its  board  from 


Education  and  Instruction  97 

twenty- four  to  five  members,  elected  at  large. 
Cleveland  has  seven  members,  elected  at  large. 
Many  other  cities  have  made  reductions.  Kan- 
sas has  passed  a  law  providing  for  boards  of 
six  members  in  all  the  cities  in  the  state,  and 
the  Ohio  legislature  has  provided  for  boards 
of  from  three  to  five  members  in  cities  of  less 
than  50,000  inhabitants;  two  to  seven  for 
cities  of  from  50,000  to  150,000;  and  five  to 
seven  for  cities  having  more  than  150,000 
inhabitants. 

The  state  as  a  unit  stands  for  general  school 
legislation  and  exercises  no  administrative 
powers,  except  where  there  is  a  state  board  of 
education ;  but  in  no  case  is  there  any  attempt 
at  actual  supervision  over  the  work  of  instruc- 
tion. The  first  state  board  was  appointed  in 
1874  in  New  York.  It  was  called  the  Board 
of  Regents  and  constituted  the  University  of 
New  York.  Its  jurisdiction  is  over  the  pri- 
vate schools,  while  the  State  Superintendent 
of  Education  has  control  of  the  public  schools. 
North  Carolina,  in  1825,  was  the  next  to  have 
a  state  board  of  education,  and  others  followed 
as  the  need  was  felt,  although  they  do  not 
exist  in  every  state.  These  boards  are  usually 
appointed  by  the  governors  and  are  variously 
constituted.  In  some  states  they  are  composed 
of  educators  and  achieve  valuable  results,  but 
in  others  they  consist  of  state  officials  and 


98  The  American  City 

their  transactions  are  limited  to  business  mat- 
ters. Broadly  stated,  the  activities  of  state 
boards  consist  of  the  management  of  the  state 
normal  schools,  the  examination  and  certifica- 
tion of  teachers,  the  holding  of  teachers'  insti- 
tutes, the  control  of  school  funds,  the  compila- 
tion of  statistics,  etc. 

Most  states  have  an  officer,  under  various 
titles,  at  the  head  of  the  state's  public  school 
system.  The  office  is  usually  elective  and  car- 
ries considerable  power.  New  York,  in  181 3, 
was  the  first  state  to  have  such  an  officer,  and 
perhaps  in  no  state  is  his  power  so  great  as  it 
is  in  New  York,  where  he  is  the  final  arbiter 
of  all  public  school  matters.  He  may  overrule 
the  action  of  any  district  or  city  school  board, 
even  though  such  action  has  been  sustained  by 
the  courts,  and  his  own  decisions  cannot  be  re- 
versed by  the  courts. 

The  Federal  Bureau  of  Education,  estab- 
lished in  1867  and  attached  to  the  Department 
of  the  Interior,  acts  in  the  capacity  of  a  na- 
tional advisory  board  and  has  become  a  valua- 
ble institution,  especially  because  of  its  re- 
search work,  and  its  annual  reports  and  other 
publications. 

J.  The  Curriculum 

The  elementary  public  schools  of  the  earliest 
period  were  necessarily  limited  to  the  teaching 


Education  and  Instruction  99 

of  very  simple  studies.  The  great  variety  of 
ages  and  mental  qualities  of  the  scholars  assem- 
bled in  the  single-room  schools  prevented  the 
development  of  a  graded  system  or  any  other 
organized  method.  Previous  to  the  nineteenth 
century,  reading,  writing,  spelling,  and  the  ele- 
ments of  arithmetic  were  the  subjects  most 
generally  taught.  Although  prior  to  the 
eighteenth  century  the  studies  required  by  leg- 
islative enactment  in  the  New  England  colo- 
nies and  New  Amsterdam  were  reading,  writ- 
ing, religion,  and  certain  laws,  there  is  no 
doubt  that  simple  arithmetic  and  spelling  also 
were  taught.  In  the  eighteenth  century,  the 
curriculum  more  definitely  included  these  lat- 
ter subjects,  working  up  to  the  introduction  of 
the  most  elementary  English  grammar  about 
the  end  of  the  century. 

Early  in  the  nineteenth  century,  the  elemen- 
tary course  quite  generally  comprised  all  the 
formal  studies  —  i.e.,  reading,  writing,  spell- 
ing, grammar,  arithmetic,  geography,  and  his- 
tory. These  studies  were  limited  to  the  text 
books,  and  the  aim  was  to  establish  efficiency 
in  the  use  of  the  language  and  numbers,  and 
acquaintance  with  geography  and  history. 
Toward  the  close  of  the  century  a  movement 
was  begun  to  utilize  the  child  period  from  six 
to  fourteen  years  for  more  than  the  merely 
formal  training,  and  there  have  been  added  to 


loo  The  American  City 

the  curriculum  literature,  music,  drawing  and 
art,  nature  study,  hygiene,  and  a  variety  of 
manual  training  occupations.  There  has 
resulted  rather  a  congestion  of  studies  with 
but  little  flexibility  and  every  attempt  to  re- 
vert to  a  simpler  program  has  been  unsatis- 
factory. The  extension  of  the  curriculum 
added  two  years  to  the  work  of  the  elementary 
schools. 

The  secondary,  or  high  school,  curriculum 
has  undergone  considerable  experimentation. 
In  the  early  part  of  the  second  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century  it  was  not  unusual  to  re- 
quire the  completion  of  twenty,  and  in  one 
case  twenty-nine,  separate  studies,  in  some 
places,  within  three  years.  This  overloaded 
curriculum  was  shortly  made  more  practicable 
by  subdividing  into  a  number  of  separate 
courses,  available  to  the  students  as  they  might 
ekct.  This  plan  is  now  in  wide  use,  while  a 
modification  of  it  is  in  vogue  in  many  schools 
where  one  set  of  subjects  is  prescribed  for  all, 
with  additional  electives  to  fill  up  the  required 
number  of  subjects  for  the  whole  school 
course.  The  subjects  are  largely  embraced  in 
the  following  studies:  mathematics  (algebra, 
geometry,  and  trigonometry),  English  (litera- 
ture, composition,  and  rhetoric),  Latin,  Greek, 
French,  German,  history,  physics,  chemistry, 
physical  geography,  psychology,  biology,  civics, 


Education,  onct  ImtiucUd^^  -  ■>  •  I'bi 

physiology,  astronomy,  commercial  and  manual 
training,  and  domestic  arts. 

4.  Teachers 

In  the  earliest  days  in  some  sections  of  the 
north  Atlantic  states,  the  duties  of  minister 
and  teacher  were  combined.  In  the  plantation 
states  there  were  no  elementary  schools,  and 
men  of  education  were  brought  from  England 
as  private  tutors.  The  teachers  in  the  early 
schools  in  New  England  were  as  a  rule  suffi- 
ciently capable  and  occupied  a  place  of  consid- 
erable social  importance  and  dignity.  As  the 
years  passed  college  graduates  usually  prefaced 
their  entry  upon  a  professional  career  by  a 
period  of  teaching. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century 
many  attempts  to  meet  the  need  for  the  special 
preparation  of  teachers  were  made  by  organiz- 
ing associations  and  institutes.  These  were 
succeeded  by  state  normal  schools,  the  first  of 
which  was  established  in  Massachusetts,  at 
Lexington,  in  1839,  and  now  every  state  has 
at  least  one  such  school  for  the  training  of 
teachers.  As  the  public  schools  in  the  various 
cities  grew  in  size  and  number  it  became  im- 
possible to  secure  enough  teachers  from  the 
state  normal  schools  to  fill  the  demand,  and 
the  cities  began  to  establish  their  own  normal 
schools,  so  that  now  all  the  large  cities  and 


idi         ■"'    The'  American  City 

many  of  the  smaller  ones  have  special  schools 
for  training  teachers.  Some  of  these  are  very 
elaborate  and  nearly  all  provide  a  two-year 
course.  Some  cities  have  gone  further,  as  in 
Cincinnati,  where  in  the  city  university  a  col- 
lege for  teachers  has  been  organized.  In  the 
Pittsburgh  City  University  practice  teaching 
is  provided. 

5.  High  Schools 

The  first  English  high  school  in  this  country 
was  founded  in  Boston  in  1821.  Within  the 
next  seventeen  years  five  New  England  cities 
followed,  and  Philadelphia  established  her  first 
high  school  in  1837.  In  New  York  several 
of  the  cities  used  established  higher  institu- 
tions for  secondary  purposes.  In  New  York 
City  the  present  City  College  was  founded  in 
1849  3.S  the  New  York  Free  Academy.  The 
various  early  high  schools  were  not  open  to 
girls,  and  secondary  education  was  not  avail- 
able for  them  in  public  schools  until  various 
later  dates.  The  movement  to  establish  high 
schools  has  been  country  wide  since  the  begin- 
ning, except  in  the  western  states,  where  the 
first  came  into  existence  after  1850.  The 
greatest  number  established  in  all  sections  was 
between  1890  and  1900. 

The  high  school  naturally  has  grown  more 
slowly  in  rural  sections,  but  with  the  realiza- 


Education  and  Instruction  103 

tion  that  the  high  school  affords  instruction 
in  a  variety  of  practical  studies  the  physical 
obstacle  is  being  overcome  by  consolidating  or 
enlarging  units  to  provide  larger  taxing  areas 
for  each  school,  or  by  paying  transportation 
expenses,  and,  in  some  sections,  the  tuition 
charge  also,  for  students  to  attend  neighboring 
high  schools.  A  unique  arrangement  has  been 
made  in  Franklin  County,  Kentucky,  which 
has  been  divided  into  four  "educational  divi- 
sions," each  containing  from  nine  to  fourteen 
school  districts.  A  school  doing  seventh  and 
eighth  grade  work  and  the  first  two  years  of 
high  school  work  is  located  near  the  center  of 
each  "division." 

There  is  a  wide  variance  in  size  between  the 
country  and  city  high  schools,  with  attendant 
differences  in  courses  of  study.  They  range 
from  the  one-teacher  high  schools,  with  about 
twenty-five  per  cent  of  the  total  enrolled  high 
school  students  in  the  country,  to  the  great 
institutions  having  a  staff  of  100  or  more 
teachers. 

The  high  school  may  thus  be  epitomized :  It 
IS  the  pinnacle  of  the  common  school  system; 
it  stands  for  the  finished  education  short  of 
the  product  of  the  college  course;  and  it  pro- 
vides a  good  general  equipment,  or  specially 
fits  for  one  of  several  ordinary  vocations. 

For  the  year  ended  June  30,  19 12,  the  esti- 


104  The  American  City 

mated  number  of  children  of  school  age  (five 
to  eighteen)  was  25,167,445,  an  increase  of 
421,883  over  the  previous  year.  The  number 
of  pupils  enrolled  in  the  public  schools  in  the 
same  year  was  18,182,937.  The  average  daily 
attendance  in  the  public  schools  of  these  pupils 
was  13,302,303,  which  was  52.7  per  cent  of 
the  total  number  of  children  of  school  age 
and  73.2  per  cent  of  the  total  enrollment  in  the 
public  schools. 

6.  Vocational  Education 

It  is  held  that  education  during  the  forma- 
tive period  in  the  secondary  schools  which  does 
not  include  some  form  of  vocational  training 
subjects  its  students  to  a  serious  handicap.  But 
there  is  a  distinction  between  true  vocational 
and  manual  training,  and  it  is  the  latter  which 
fits  into  the  general  public  school  courses  in 
both  the  elementary  grades  and  the  high 
schools. 

Although  manual  training  in  a  meager  form 
was  introduced  in  the  institution  which  pre- 
ceded the  University  of  Illinois  in  1871,  and 
in  Washington  University,  St.  Louis,  in  1872, 
it  was  not  until  the  educators  and  lay  leaders 
of  the  country  visited  the  centennial  at  Phila- 
delphia in  1876  and  viewed  the  industrial  and 
art  work  presented  by  European  schools  that 
an  urgent  and  sweeping  demand  arose  for  the 


Education  and  Instruction  105 

introduction  of  manual  arts  in  the  curriculum 
of  American  public  schools.  The  demand  of 
the  lay  public  was  for  actual  trade  education, 
but  as  developed  by  educators  the  training  be- 
came an  adjunct  of  the  general  courses.  Wood- 
working, paper  cutting,  and  other  simple  forms 
were  introduced  into  the  grades,  with  a  ten- 
dency to  begin  the  training  in  the  last  half  of 
the  elementary  grades. 

By  1880  this  form  of  education  had  become 
so  soundly  developed  that  numerous  cities  had 
begun  to  establish  special  manual  training 
schools  of  an  elementary  character  and  manual 
training  high  schools,  and  now  every  city  of 
any  considerable  size  has  one  of  the  latter  in- 
stitutions. Manual  training,  however,  is  dis- 
tinctively differentiated  from  vocational  train- 
ing; indeed,  it  is  denominated  prevocational  in 
some  quarters. 

Within  the  past  decade  a  movement  has  rap- 
idly grown  to  provide  real  vocational  educa- 
tion, beginning  in  the  seventh,  eighth  or  ninth 
year  of  school  life.  As  a  result,  vocational 
schools,  part-time  arrangements  with  local  in- 
dustries, and  industrial  departments  —  day  and 
evening  classes  —  in  the  regular  schools  have 
been  established.  Six  states  now  have  in  oper- 
ation definite  systems  for  organizing  and  super- 
vising vocational  schools,  and  for  aiding  local 
communities    in    the    maintenance    of    such 


io6  The  American  City 

schools  —  these  are  New  York,  Massachusetts, 
New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Indiana,  and  Wis- 
consin. In  some  of  the  states  it  is  required 
that  elementary  agriculture  shall  be  taught  in 
the  grades  in  all  town  and  township  schools, 
and  that  elementary  industrial  and  domestic 
science  shall  be  taught  in  the  grades  in  all  city 
and  town  schools. 

In  New  York  State,  as  in  most  states  co- 
operating in  vocational  education,  state  aid  is 
extended  to  evening  classes.  In  Rochester  an 
agreement  between  the  City  Shop  School  and 
the  Rochester  Typothetae  sets  the  term  of 
apprenticeship  at  four  years,  and  provides  that 
each  pupil  apprentice  employed  in  a  printing 
plant  shall  alternate  weekly  between  the  plant 
and  the  school,  and  receive  wages  from  the 
employer  for  the  school  time  as  well  as  shop 
time. 

In  some  of  the  towns  in  the  coal  regions  of 
Pennsylvania  vocational  instruction  has  been 
provided  in  evening  classes  for  miners,  and 
many  of  the  men  have  passed  the  state  exam- 
inations for  mine  foreman's  and  assistant  mine 
foreman's  certificates. 

Agricultural  instruction  has  been  generously 
provided  for  in  most  of  the  states,  in  many 
instances  in  connection  with  private  colleges 
and  universities.  Various  other  courses  have 
been  provided  in  some  of  the  foremost  states; 


Education  and  Instruction  107 

such  as  the  State  College  of  Forestry,  at  Syra- 
cuse, N.  Y.,  and  New  York  School  of  Clay- 
working,  at  Alfred  University. 

The  aim  of  educators  identified  with  voca- 
tional instruction  is  to  determine,  by  standard- 
ized tests,  the  particular  inclination  of  each 
pupil's  ability  and  provide  a  training  which 
shall  fit  the  pupil  for  a  definite  place  in  the 
industrial  life  of  the  people. 

7.  Evening  Schools 

For  the  public  school  pupils  who  have  to 
seek  employment  before  the  completion  of 
either  the  elementary  or  secondary  courses, 
and  for  those  more  fortunately  placed  so  that 
they  have  actually  graduated  from  high  school, 
the  evening  schools  are  in  the  nature  of  con- 
tinuation schools.  For  the  latter,  there  are 
special  courses  in  literature,  history,  art,  music, 
and  other  subjects  of  a  cultural  character.  For 
the  former,  is  provided  opportunity  to  com- 
plete, in  a  more  condensed  form,  perhaps,  the 
education  they  are  denied  in  day  classes. 

Another  class,  composed  of  several  groups, 
are  in  need  of  evening  schools  because  of  the 
vocational  instruction  available.  One  group 
includes  those  of  school  age  who,  because  of 
present  economic  conditions  demanding  a  sup- 
ply of  young  workers  and  meagerness  of 
income  in  the  home,   are   forced  to    forego 


io8  The  American  City 

schooling  and  so  seek  to  better  themselves  in 
the  industrial  life  which  they  have  entered  by 
pursuing  their  development  in  the  particular 
vocation  which  most  appeals  to  them.  Another 
group  is  composed  of  those  beyond  school  age 
who  likewise  desire  to  attain  proficiency  in 
some  chosen  vocation.  Another,  and  some- 
what smaller,  group  consists  of  those  beyond 
the  school  age  who  are  more  or  less  illiterate 
and  who  find  sufficient  instruction  in  the  Eng- 
lish language  in  connection  with  the  vocational 
training  to  meet  their  need.  In  seaboard  cities, 
especially,  ambitious  immigrants  will  be  found 
in  this  group.  During  the  year  1906- 1907 
there  were  45,485  non-English  speaking  pupils 
enrolled  in  the  evening  classes  in  New  York 
City. 

The  first  evening  school  was  established  in 
1834  in  the  basement  of  a  public  school  build- 
ing in  Louisville,  Ky.  In  1848  a  free  evening 
school  was  founded  in  Worcester,  Mass.  In 
the  same  year  evening  schools  were  established 
in  New  York  by  the  Public  School  Society, 
and  within  the  following  decade  other  benevo- 
lent organizations  in  various  cities  opened 
similar  schools,  but  the  idea  moved  slowly 
among  the  public  school  systems  of  the  coun- 
try until  well  into  the  last  quarter  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  The  most  recent  statistics 
available  show  that  in  1906  there  were  about 


Education  and  Instruction  109 

315,000  students  enrolled  in  evening  schools 
in  cities  having  a  population  of  8,000  and 
over,  which  was  a  little  more  than  the  total 
enrollment  in  the  high  schools  in  the  cities  of 
that  size. 

Instruction  in  the  evening  schools  quite 
generally  covers  a  wide  range  of  subjects.  In 
Wisconsin  the  subjects  include  gasoline  engine 
practice,  architectural  drawing,  applied  design, 
pattern-making,  plumbing,  free-hand  drawing, 
shop  mathematics,  cabinet  working,  forging, 
dressmaking,  sewing,  household  arts,  retail 
selling,  telegraphy,  shorthand,  typewriting, 
bookkeeping,  electricity,  citizenship,  English, 
English  for  foreigners,  hygiene,  and  interior 
decorating.  In  other  states  numerous  other 
subjects  are  taught,  such  as  printing,  bookbind- 
ing, electric  wiring  and  installation,  and  mil- 
linery. 

The  evening  classes  are  held  in  the  public 
school  buildings,  and  in  some  cities  the 
equipment  of  the  manual  training  high 
schools  is  utilized.  In  practically  every  com- 
munity the  admittance  age  is  sixteen  years  and 
over. 

New  York  has  a  privately  endowed  free 
evening  school  which  has  justly  become  famous 
under  the  name  of  Cooper  Union,  after  its 
founder,  Peter  Cooper.  The  courses  are  of  a 
higher  order  than  those  of  the  public  school 


no  The  American  City 

systems,  and  embrace  many  of  the  subjects 
taught  in  the  high  schools.  The  institute  also 
conducts  a  free  school  of  art,  in  which  are 
taught  drawing,  engraving,  and  photography. 

8,  Public  Lectures 

Public  lectures  are  held  in  school  buildings 
in  many  cities  free  to  the  general  public,  and 
are  usually  arranged  for  by  the  school  authori- 
ties as  ^  part  of  their  educational  program. 
This  form  of  supplemental  general  public  edu- 
cation originated  in  New  York  City  in  1888. 
During  the  first  term,  from  June  i,  1888,  to 
April  I,  1889,  186  lectures  were  given  to  a 
total  attendance  of  22,149.  During  the  191 2- 
19 1 3  term,  5,389  lectures  were  given  to  a  total 
attendance  of  1,138,702  persons.  Boston  fol- 
lowed in  1 90 1,  and  soon  other  cities  adopted 
the  plan.  A  wide  range  of  subjects  are  treated, 
covering  scientific  topics,  health,  travel,  art, 
and  literature. 

p.  Libraries 

In  the  older  cities  of  colonial  origin  libraries 
were  founded  at  various  dates,  many  around 
1750,  by  individuals  who  later  either  conveyed 
them  to  the  cities  or  retained  them  under  pri- 
vate management,  but  for  the  free  use  of  the 
public.    In  these  days  public  libraries  are  main- 


Education  and  Instruction  iii 

tained  by  practically  all  cities,  altliough  the 
library  as  purely  a  municipal  institution  is  of 
comparatively  recent  origin. 

Public  libraries  are  considered  almost  as 
essential  to  the  intellectual  life  of  the  people  as 
the  public  schools,  and  an  effort  was  made  as 
early  as  1835  to  place  library  advantages 
within  reach  of  the  rural  population.  For  this 
purpose  New  York,  in  that  year,  established 
school  district  libraries.  Michigan  and  Massa- 
chusetts followed  in  1837  with  township  li- 
braries, and  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island,  Iowa, 
Indiana,  and  others  followed  in  rapid  succes- 
sion. However,  the  limit  of  efficiency  of  this 
movement  was  reached  within  the  next  decade 
or  two,  but  of  late  years  the  subject  has  been 
revived,  and  numerous  states  have  inaugurated 
traveling  libraries,  in  cooperation  with  which 
pupils'  reading  circles  have  been  formed  among 
the  scholars  in  the  rural  schools. 

In  the  larger  cities  various  means  have  been 
utilized  for  a  wider  extension  of  the  public 
library  facilities.  The  means  generally  consist 
of  branches,  with  a  librarian  and  staff;  deliv- 
ery stations,  through  which  books  may  be 
ordered  from  the  main  library,  and  also 
returned;  deposit  stations,  where  small  collec- 
tions from  the  main  library,  changed  from  time 
to  time,  are  made  available  for  circulation.  In 
some  cities  regularly  changed  collections  are 


112  The  American  City 

sent  to  the  various  public  schools  for  the  con- 
venience of  the  pupils. 

10.  Art  Galleries  and  Museums 

Art  galleries  and  museums  are  maintained 
by  the  larger  cities.  Such  institutions  are  so 
expensive  to  equip  and  maintain  that  none  but 
the  largest  cities  can  afford  this  means  of  pub- 
lic education.  Even  in  cities  where  they  are 
maintained  a  large  proportion  of  the  exhibits 
are  given  by  private  parties.  The  three  most 
important  art  museums  are  the  Metropolitan 
Museum  of  Art,  in  New  York  City,  the  Mu- 
seum of  Art,  Boston,  arid  the  Corcoran  Insti- 
tution, Washington,  D.  C.  These  institutions 
rank  well  with  the  best  of  such  museums  in 
Europe.  Though  these  museums  are  in  part 
municipal  museums  they  are  in  quite  a  sense 
national  institutions,  visited  by  tourists  from 
the  entire  country.  The  aggregate  number  of 
visitors  to  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art 
during  1912  was  690,183.  This  indicates  a 
keen  interest  in  art  on  the  part  of  a  large  num- 
ber of  people,  and  shows  the  response  of  the 
public  to  the  comparatively  recent  efforts  of 
the  art  museums  to  develop  a  popular  under- 
standing of  their  contents. 

In  addition  to  regularly  established  art 
museums  most  cities  provide  collections  of 
prints  for  the  use  of  public  schools.    Thus  is 


Education  and  Instruction  113 

created  a  desire  to  see  the  originals  in  the 
museums  and  a  love  for  art  is  stimulated. 

II.  Zoological  Gardens  and  Collection 

Zoological  gardens  in  a  limited  degree  are 
supported  by  some  cities.  The  large  Zoologi- 
cal Garden  at  Bronx  Park,  New  York  City,  is 
supported  by  a  private  foundation.  The  city, 
however,  maintains  a  small  animal  exhibit  in 
Central  and  Prospect  Parks.  These  afford 
entertainment  and  instruction  to  a  very  large 
number  of  people  who  visit  the  parks.  Most 
of  the  large  cities  possess  a  more  or  less  com- 
plete zoological  collection,  but  small  cities 
cannot  afford  expenditures  for  such  a  purpose. 

New  York  City  partly  supports  a  natural 
history  museum,  the  Museum  of  Natural  His- 
tory, which  ranks  next  to  the  Smithsonian  In- 
stitute in  Washington.  It  contains  valuable 
collections  of  stuffed  animals  and  birds,  an- 
thropological material,  and  a  great  variety  of 
natural  products.  Such  an  institute  serves  not 
only  the  citizens  of  New  York  City,  but  also 
tourists  from  all  parts  of  the  country.  An- 
other important  museum  of  this  class  is  the 
Field  Columbian  Museum  in  Chicago,  founded 
by  private  citizens. 

The  educational  function  of  museums  of  this 
character  has  become  their  most  important 
feature  in  recent  years.     In  many  of  these 


114  ^^^^  American  City 

museums  popular  lectures  are  given,  both  to 
classes  from  public  schools  and  to  the  general 
public.  In  a  few  cities  traveling  exhibits  are 
sent  to  the  schools,  and  in  St.  Louis  the  Board 
of  Education  has  established  a  museum  for 
the  public  school  pupils,  under  the  care  of  the 
assistant  superintendent  of  schools.  In  Brook- 
lyn there  is  an  endowed  children's  museum 
which  has  an  average  annual  attendance  of 
102,000,  including  an  attendance  of  18,700  at 
lectures.  Other  cities  have  special  collections 
for  children. 

12.  Defective  and  Sub-normal  Children 

Society  has  voluntarily,  and  in  a  spirit  of 
compassion,  as  well  as  in  self -protection, 
charged  itself  with  the  care  of  those  unfortu- 
nates who  come  into  life  with  a  serious  physi- 
cal or  mental  handicap,  and  large  numbers  of 
these  have  not  only  been  developed  into  self- 
sustaining  individuals,  but  many  have  become 
a  distinct  benefit  to  society.  This  class  in- 
cludes those  roughly  grouped  as  deaf,  blind, 
feeble-minded,  and  incorrigible.  Until  recently 
these  have  been  cared  for  mostly  in  state  insti- 
tutions, but  reports  secured  by  the  United 
States  Bureau  of  Education  in  191 3  show  that 
thirty-six  cities,  in  twenty- four  states,  made 
their  first  provision  for  one  or  more  of  these 
groups  in  the  year  1912-1913;  that  164  cities. 


Education  and  Instruction  115 

in  thirty- four  states,  extended  their  provision ; 
and  that  ninety-three  cities  which  had  pre- 
viously made  such  provision  made  no  changes 
during  that  year. 

Six  of  the  new  schools  established  during 
the  year  are  public  day  schools  for  the  deaf. 
There  are,  in  all,  seventy  such  day  schools  in 
the  country,  and  while  this  number  is  larger 
than  that  of  the  residential  schools  for  the 
deaf,  yet  their  enrollment  of  1,773  constitutes 
but  thirteen  per  cent  of  the  total  number  in 
both  day  and  residential  schools. 

In  1900  Chicago  began  to  teach  blind  boys 
and  girls  in  the  public  day  schools  and  by  19 12 
ten  other  cities  had  adopted  the  plan,  each 
enthusiastically  seeking  to  go  a  step  further. 
These  blind  children  recite  in  the  same  classes 
with  the  seeing  children,  although  their  prepa- 
ration and  direction  is  under  the  care  of  special 
•teachers.  In  some  of  the  cities  there  is  a  spe- 
cial supervisor  who  trains  the  special  teachers, 
visits  the  classes  in  which  blind  children  are 
enrolled,  and  sees  that  physical,  manual,  and 
perhaps  musical  training  is  given.  The  extra 
expense  to  the  city  school  system  of  thus  car- 
ing for  the  blind  children  is  in  some  cities 
partly  met  by  the  state.  One  distinct  advan- 
tage claimed  for  the  plan  is  that  the  home 
remains  a  factor  in  the  child's  life,  an  influ- 
ence it  would  be  without  nine  months  in  the 


ii6  The  American  City 

year  in  a  residential  school.  In  some  of  these 
cities  the  day  school  training  is  not  only  thor- 
oughly vocational,  but  it  is  also  carried  outside 
the  classrooms  in  the  lessons  of  boy  scouting 
and  in  the  duties  of  campfire  girls. 

The  medical  examination  which  pupils  are 
required  to  pass  on  entering  the  public  schools 
in  most  cities  quickly  classifies  the  more  pro- 
nounced mentally  defective  children,  but  as  yet 
no  distinctive  provision  for  their  education  has 
been  made  in  public  schools  administered  by 
city  systems. 

The  same  is  more  or  less  true  of  the  chil- 
dren classed  as  incorrigibles,  but  as  these  must 
be  taken  care  of  by  the  city  in  the  discharge  of 
its  police  duties,  all  the  large  cities  have  reform 
institutions  in  which  educational  and  vocational 
instruction  is  given. 

jj.  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 

The  educational  feature  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  has  had  a  large  place  in 
the  development  of  that  organization.  The 
educational  work  is  largely  in  the  form  of  lec- 
tures, class  work,  reading  rooms,  libraries, 
literary  societies,  educational  clubs,  educational 
tours,  and  private  tutoring.  The  educational 
work  of  the  Association  was  presented  in  the 
form  of  an  exhibit  to  many  thousands  of  vis- 
itors to  the  Chicago  World's  Fair  in  1893,  and 


Education  and  Instruction  117 

in  1896  it  attracted  further  attention  by  the 
inauguration  of  a  system  of  international 
examinations. 

At  present  there  are  spring  and  winter 
terms,  and  day  work  has  been  added  where 
the  need  exists.  There  are  summer  classes  for 
boys,  and  many  special  schools  have  sprung  up 
in  the  effort  to  meet  the  need  of  men  and  boys. 
Some  of  these  special  subjects  are  accounting, 
automobile  operating,  art  and  decoration,  tex- 
tile designing,  advertising,  salesmanship,  real 
estate,  insurance,  plumbing,  fruit  culture,  poul- 
try raising,  etc. 

14.  Technical  Education 

In  the  technical  schools  the  principles  of 
science  and  the  developed  facts  in  this  great 
field  are  brought  into  contact  with  the  every- 
day practices  of  the  industrial  life,  to  the  end 
that  these  practices  may  be  made  to  conform 
to  higher  standards  of  quality  and  efficiency. 
They  are  for  those  who  are  of  the  same  class 
of  students  who  enter  the  training  for  the  pro- 
fessions, and  the  same  high  standards  of  char- 
acter and  mentality  required  in  the  latter  are 
essential  in  the  former.  Thus,  the  training 
of  the  technical  schools  is  higher  than  that  of 
the  vocational  or  industrial  schools.  Gradu- 
ates of  the  former  are  known  as  civil  engi- 
neers,   mechanical    engineers,    electrical    en- 


ii8  The  American  City 

gineers,  gas  engineers,  mining  engineers,  effi- 
ciency engineers,  etc.,  while  graduates  of  the 
latter  may  perform  that  part  of  the  skilled 
work  in  these  professions  which  does  not 
require  scientific  training.  There  are  no  free 
technical  schools  in  the  country,  although  some 
states  maintain  a  number  of  free  scholarships 
in  some  of  the  schools. 

75.  General 

Because  of  the  great  danger  of  the  spread 
of  infectious  diseases  through  promiscuous 
contact  between  children  in  the  public  schools, 
most  cities  have  established  some  system  of 
medical  examination,  and  some  have  a  provi- 
sion for  compulsory  vaccination.  In  some 
cities  the  city  boards  of  health  have  charge 
of  the  examinations,  while  in  others  the  work 
is  under  the  boards  of  education.  In  many  of 
the  cities  the  medical  examinations  are  sup- 
plemented by  treatment  which  is  carried  on  in 
the  homes  of  the  children  through  the  agency 
of  visiting  nurses.  In  some  states  the  medical 
examinations  are  required  by  statute.  In 
Ohio  the  law  includes  teachers  and  janitors 
within  the  scope  of  examination  by  the  school 
physician. 

New  Jersey  cities  are  authorized  to  support 
incorporated  dental  associations  which  conduct 
free  clinics  for  poor  school  children.    A  num- 


Education  and  Instruction  119 

ber  of  cities  are  providing  meals  for  poor 
school  children,  either  free  or  at  a  nominal 
charge,  in  order  that  they  may  have  sufficient 
nourishment.  In  some  cities  anemic  children 
are  placed  in  open  air  classes  with  very  good 
results.  For  instance,  in  New  York  City  at 
the  close  of  one  term  in  1913  the  physical 
improvement  of  sub-normal  children  in  open 
air  classes  was  forty  per  cent  and  the  mental 
gain  was  over  fifty  per  cent.  This  movement 
to  make  extraordinary  provisions  for  the 
health  of  the  school  children  is  also  responsible 
for  the  establishing  of  playgrounds. 

Some  cities  have  thrown  school  buildings 
open  for  public  meetings  of  various  sorts  and 
have  encouraged  local  societies  to  use  them  as 
civic  centers  and,  in  a  limited  degree,  as  neigh- 
borhood club  quarters.  The  school  building 
when  thus  used  serves  a  much  wider  and  more 
useful  purpose  than  formerly  when  it  was 
closed  two  days  of  every  week,  three  months 
in  the  summer,  and  every  evening.  It  ceases 
to  be  looked  upon  merely  as  a  place  in  which 
to  teach  children  elementary  things ;  it  becomes 
the  center  of  the  intellectual  and  social  life  of 
the  people. 


A 


CHAPTER  VI 

MUNICIPAL   UNDERTAKINGS 

PUBLIC  Utility  is  essentially  a  monopoly. 
Herein  lies  the  cause  of  many  problems. 


J.  The  Problem  of  Public  Utilities 

The  ownership  of  these  is  almost  wholly  a 
local  question.  If  a  private  corporation  is  fur- 
nishing good  service,  charging  reasonable 
rates,  does  not  meddle  in  politics,  and  is  amen- 
able to  local  regulation,  it  would  seem  that  no 
problem  exists  in  that  particular  community, 
and  that  under  such  conditions  (exclusive  of 
other  aspects)  a  change  to  municipal  owner- 
ship would  be  unnecessary  and,  probably, 
unwise. 

But  where  a  private  corporation  is  conduct- 
ing its  service  without  a  proper  regard  of  the 
public  it  serves,  the  people  constituting  the 
community  are  prompted  to  turn  to  the  con- 
sideration of  public  ownership  for  relief. 
Other  conditions  which  justify  a  small  com- 
munity entering  into  the  construction  and 
operation  of  plants  for  public  service  are:  an 
unsupplied  need  because  of  the  non-existence 
of  a  privately  owned  plant ;  a  desire  of  the  peo- 

120 


Municipal  Undertakings  121 

pie  for  greater  conveniences;  an  effort  to 
attract  additions  to  the  population  with  a  view 
to  expansion;  or  the  furnishing  of  facilities 
which  cannot  be  afforded  by  a  private  com- 
pany. 

The  conditions  mentioned  have  been  respon- 
sible for  the  entry  of  a  number  of  American 
cities  and  towns  into  the  field  of  municipal 
ownership.  Of  course  other  considerations  have 
had  a  part  in  actuating  a  community  in  taking 
such  a  step,  but  they  are  mostly  variations  of 
those  stated,  and  it  is  the  purpose  to  set  forth 
in  this  chapter  some  of  the  experiences  of 
certain  cities  and  towns  in  the  United  States 
in  their  operation  of  such  utilities  as  water, 
gas,  and  electricity,  without  reference  to  the 
highly  developed  systems  of  some  of  the  Euro- 
pean cities.  In  these  foreign  cities  conditions 
generally  are  extremely  favorable  for  the  pub- 
lic ownership  and  operation  of  even  conven- 
iences not  usually  listed  as  public  utilities  in 
the  Western  World. 

The  real  test  of  any  public  service  or  policy 
is  its  effect  upon  the  people  and  their  insti- 
tutions in  a  moral,  political,  and  social,  rather 
than  a  financial  way.  Municipal  ownership 
has  equally  eminent  supporters  and  opponents, 
and  the  arguments  cover  a  wide  range.  For 
instance,  it  is  claimed  that  public-service  cor- 
porations are  an  active  cause  of  political  cor- 


122  The  American  City 

ruption  that  can  be  eradicated  only  by  public 
ownership.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  argued 
that  partisanship  and  tendency  to  graft  on  the 
part  of  politicians  in  city  governments  prevent 
the  successful  operation  of  publicly  owned 
utilities.  History  has  repeatedly  demonstrated 
that  there  is  truth  in  both  claims.  However, 
control  by  corporations  of  legislatures  and 
politicians  is  now  rather  a  passing  condition. 
Wholesale  raids  by  prosecuting  officers  against 
bribers  and  bribe  takers  in  a  number  of  com- 
munities have  created  a  wholesome  fear,  while 
new  methods  of  dealing  with  public  service 
corporations  are  being  established. 

One  of  the  gravest  objections  against  the 
methods,  of  public-service  corporations  is  in 
connection  with  their  claim  to  the  right  to 
engage  in  certain  capitalization  practices.  It 
may  not  be  exactly  fair  to  make  such  an 
unanalyzed  comparison  but  certainly  a  tre- 
mendous over-capitalization  by  these  com- 
panies in  1902  was  shown  in  the  statement 
from  the  United  Census  Bureau.  In  that  year 
the  outstanding  stocks  and  bonds  of  privately 
owned  public  utility  plants  amounted  to  $271 
per  1,000  kilowatt  hours  of  service,  while  the 
same  character  of  indebtedness  of  the  pub- 
licly owned  plants  amounted  to  but  $111  for 
a  like  service. 

Most  public-service  corporations  claim  the 


Municipal  Undertakings  123 

right  to  capitalize  and  earn  from  six  to  ten 
per  cent  on  all  or  some  of  the  following  valu- 
ations :  increased  value  of  their  lands,  although 
their  original  uses  have  not  been  changed;  in- 
creased cost  of  duplicating  their  buildings  and 
machinery  because  of  increased  cost  of 
materials  and  labor;  increased  cost  of  their 
distributing  systems  for  the  same  reason; 
increased  cost  of  duplicating  underground  sys- 
tems because  of  added  cost  of  cutting  through 
paving  laid  since  the  original  installation;  the 
value  of  all  connections  with  consumers  (this 
has  been  placed  as  high  as  $25  each  by  gas 
and  electric  companies) ;  the  value  of  fran- 
chises, although  these  are  only  privileges 
granted  by  the  people. 

Public-service  corporations  are  seldom  at  a 
loss  to  find  ways  of  inflating  their  capital 
charges,  and  such  over-capitalization  is  made  a 
claim  for  the  charging  of  higher  rates.  It  is 
at  this  point  that  publicly  owned  plants  present 
the  greatest  contrast.  In  almost  every  case 
their  rates  are  very  much  lower,  while  if  they 
are  at  all  high  the  profits  are  used  for  the 
benefit  of  the  taxpayers. 

2.  State  Regulation 

All  these  political  dealings  and  capitalistic 
abuses  finally  led  to  a  new  method  of  dealing 
with  public-service  corporations.     Regulation 


124  The  American  City 

of  public  utilities  was  inaugurated  by  Gover- 
nor Hughes  in  New  York  and  Senator  LaFol- 
lette  in  Wisconsin  in  1907,  and  since  then  the 
policy  has  been  adopted  in  a  majority  of  the 
states  containing  large  cities.  The  movement 
was  supported  by  various  groups :  those  who 
believed  stringent  public  control  to  be  a  neces- 
sity; those  who  held  that  it  would  obviate  all 
need  of  municipal  ownership;  and  those  who 
argued  that  it  would  pave  the  way  for  public 
ownership.  On  the  other  hand  it  was  opposed 
by  the  public-service  corporations;  a  certain 
class  of  politicians;  and  those  who  insisted 
upon  municipal  ownership  as  the  only  solution 
of  the  problems  arising  from  the  practices  of 
the  public-service  corporations. 

Ample  powers  have  been  given  public-serv- 
ice commissions,  especially  over  rates,  fran- 
chises, and  capitalization  and  forms  of  reports. 
These  powers  have  not  always  been  used  for 
downward  regulation.  They  have,  in  instances, 
been  used  to  increase  rates,  even  though  the  act 
abrogated  the  contract  existing  between  a  city 
and  a  company.  In  the  matter  of  capitaliza- 
tion, the  commissions  have  scrutinized  valua- 
tions as  the  most  effectual  means  of  control 
and  prevention  of  swollen  assets.  Uniform 
systems  of  accounting  have  also  been  adopted 
as  a  valuable  regulative  measure.  J 

The  commissions  have  consistently  sought 


Municipal  Undertakings  125 

to  be  fair;  to  justify  their  existence  and  to  ren- 
der decisions  which  would  stand  in  the  courts. 
This  has  quite  generally  overcome  the  opposi- 
tion, and  in  many  instances  won  the  support, 
of  public-service  corporations. 

To  the  municipal  ownership  idea,  state  reg- 
ulation by  commission  is  naturally  a  hindrance 
capable  of  expression  in  many  ways.  But  such 
regulation  may  largely  remove  the  necessity 
for  public  ownership  through  low  rates  based 
upon  regulation  of  capitalization  and  non- 
amortization,  the  elimination  of  promoters, 
stimulation  of  the  development  of  efficiency, 
and  subjection  of  the  corporations  to  the  force 
of  public  opinion  through  publicity. 

A  number  of  states  have  enacted  statutes 
giving  general  authority  to  cities  to  engage 
in  municipal  undertakings.  The  Ohio  munici- 
pal code  authorizes  municipal  electric  plants 
and  water  works  in  every  city.  In  1903  four 
states  conferred  similar  authority.  All  cities 
of  less  than  30,000  population  by  a  Missouri 
statute  are  authorized  to  undertake  any  public 
utility,  specifically  including  telephones  and 
street  railways.  Kansas  has  empowered  all 
cities  of  less  than  15,000  population  to  under- 
take water  works  and  gas,  oil,  and  electric 
plants.  In  addition  to  these,  California  has 
authorized  telegraph  lines  and  heating  plants 
for  all  municipalities  of  less  than  3,000. 


126  The  American  City 

Illinois  has  authorized  all  the  cities  to  own 
and  operate  street  railways,  and  has  sought  to 
provide  a  satisfactory  way  of  financing  such 
undertakings.  The  general  municipal  law  of 
Virginia  authorizes  all  cities  to  own  water 
works.  The  municipal  code  of  Indiana  em- 
powers cities  to  own  water  and  gas  works  and 
electric  plants,  although  the  two  per  cent  debt 
limit  may  be  a  prohibition  in  some  cases.  In 
1906  New  Jersey  enacted  a  general  law  author- 
izing cities  to  establish  water  works  and  elec- 
tric plants,  with  provisions  more  favorable  to 
the  former.  By  constitutional  provision  in 
Oklahoma  every  municipal  corporation  may 
engage  in  any  enterprise  similar  to  those  for 
which  franchises  are  granted  to  private  cor- 
porations. The  charter  adopted  by  the  city  of 
St.  Louis  in  June,  19 14,  specifies  the  right  of 
eminent  domain  in  connection  with  all  exist- 
ing franchises  to  public-service  corporations, 
but  in  no  case  of  acquisition  of  the  plant  of 
such  a  corporation  shall  the  franchise  receive 
a  valuation.  Most  of  these  states  require  that 
each  undertaking  shall  bear  the  burden  of  its 
financing  without  recourse  to  the  debt  limit. 

J.  Comparisons  of  Publicly  and  Privately 
Owned  Public  Utilities 

Upon  the  management  the  success  of  a 
municipal  undertaking  largely  depends.     This 


Municipal  Undertakings  127 

is  the  crux  of  success  or  failure  in  a  private 
enterprise,  and  a  municipal  undertaking  can- 
not be  exempt  from  the  rule.  Unless  the  form 
of  management  is  to  include  efficiency,  and 
centralized  authority  and  responsibility,  after 
the  manner  of  private  operations,  there  will 
be  small  chance  of  success.  In  fact,  the  absence 
of  this  form  of  management  has  been  respon- 
sible for  nearly  every  failure  of  a  municipal 
undertaking  in  the  United  States. 

There  is  no  late  estimate  of  the  proportion 
of  failures,  but  the  1902  Census  Report 
showed  that  one  municipality  reverted  to  pri- 
vate ownership  for  every  thirteen  that  engaged 
in  public  ownership.  However,  with  the  radi- 
cal reforms  in  government  adopted  by  many  of 
the  cities  this  proportion  of  failures  has  un- 
doubtedly been  greatly  reduced,  for  municipal 
ownership  must  be  increasingly  successful  as 
changes  in  the  plan  of  government  tend  to 
promote  efficiency  in  the  administration  of  the 
affairs  of  the  city.  On  the  other  hand,  if  good 
conditions  of  government  are  favorable  for 
municipal  ownership,  the  same  is  equally  true 
of  private  ownership,  and  it  is  a  fact  that  with 
scientific  management  and  ability  to  attract 
high-class  talent,  private  corporations  lead  in 
the  matter  of  progress. 

It  is  rather  difficult  to  make  a  comparison 
between    the    publicly    owned    and    operated 


128  The  American  City 

plants  in  widely  separated  localities,  because 
of  the  variation  in  the  natural  conditions  which 
are  vital  to  the  proper  consideration  of  the  eco- 
nomic aspects  of  a  particular  operation.  Mani- 
festly a  community  which  obtains  its  water 
supply  by  force  of  gravity  can  serve  its  citizens 
at  less  expense  than  that  which  has  to  pump 
every  drop.  The  same  is  true  as  between  the 
naturally  pure  supply  and  that  which  has  to 
be  redeemed  from  polluting  conditions  by  arti- 
ficial filtration.  Likewise,  electric  current  can 
be  more  cheaply  generated  by  water  power 
than  by  steam,  so  that  in  the  former  instance 
the  rates  to  the  consumers  would  be  lower 
than  under  the  latter  condition.  There  are 
other  conditions  which  cannot  be  disregarded 
as  factors  in  a  fair  comparison  of  publicly 
owned  plants;  such  as  freight  rates  for  fuel, 
labor,  politics,  etc. 

This  principle  also  applies  to  the  considera- 
tion of  any  comparison  of  publicly  owned 
plants  with  those  owned  privately,  for  not  all 
municipalities  pursue  every  commercial  possi- 
bility, which,  on  the  other  hand,  would  be  the 
source  of  a  constantly  growing  income  under 
the  developing  management  of  private  owners. 
The  wages  paid  by  municipalities  are  gener- 
ally from  twenty  to  thirty  per  cent  higher  than 
those  paid  by  private  owners.  The  munici- 
pality has  some  very  distinct  advantages  over 


Municipal  Undertakings  129 

the  private  corporation :  it  can  borrow  capital 
at  a  lower  rate  of  interest;  it  can  make  better 
terms  of  redemption;  it  need  not  pay  divi- 
dends; it  can  more  effectively  control  strikes. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  handicapped  by  having 
to  obtain  its  employees  under  civil  service  rules. 

Water  Works. —  Water  supply  was  the  first 
public  utility  to  come  under  municipal  owner- 
ship, and  it  seems  almost  as  a  matter  of  course 
that  such  a  vital  necessity  should  be  provided 
by  government.  Perhaps  it  was  some  idea  of 
this  sort  which  was  responsible  for  the  short 
periods  for  which  most  of  the  original  fran- 
chises were  granted  to  water  companies,  that 
the  way  might  be  the  more  open  for  the  city  to 
take  over  the  ownership  under  more  favorable 
conditions.  However,  public  ownership  of  wa- 
ter works  has  proven  its  superiority  over  pri- 
vate ownership  in  many  respects. 

The  larger  proportion  of  water  works  are 
owned  by  cities  and  towns.  From  1800  to 
1900  the  public  ownership  of  water  works 
increased  from  six  per  cent  to  sixty  per  cent 
of  the  total.  In  1907,  of  fifty  of  the  largest 
cities,  twenty-one  had  originally  built  and  then 
owned  their  plants ;  twenty  had  changed  from 
private  to  public  ownership ;  and  nine  were  still 
served  by  private  plants,  some  of  which  were 
considering  a  change.  The  latest  complete 
report  by  the  United  States  Census  Bureau 


130  The  American  City 

upon  the  ownership  of  water  works  shows  that 
of  135  cities  reporting  with  a  population  of 
more  than  30,000,  seventy  per  cent  owned  their 
own  works,  while  in  302  cities  having  a  popu- 
lation of  from  10,000  to  30,000,  458  with  from 
5,000  to  10,000,  and  580  of  from  3,000  to 
5,000  about  fifty  per  cent  of  the  works  in  each 
class  were  publicly  owned. 

Municipal  ownership  of  water  works  has 
proven  to  be  the  most  advantageous  plan  in 
many  respects.  Naturally  enough,  because  the 
conservation  of  health  forms  one  of  the  most 
important  functions  of  government,  it  has 
been  demonstrated  that,  as  a  rule,  the  water 
supplied  by  cities  is  purer  than  that  furnished 
by  private  companies.  The  service  of  public 
works  is  generally  better  than  that  of  private 
works,  because  of  the  direct  responsibility  of 
the  management  of  the  former  to  the  people 
themselves.  The  rates  of  the  public  services 
are  invariably  lower;  the  history  of  all  changes 
from  private  to  public  ownership  shows  almost 
immediate  reductions  of  fifty  per  cent  or  more. 
Another  important  item  is  the  lower  cost  of 
water  for  fire  hydrants  and  other  public  needs ; 
it  has  been  found  generally  that  the  value  of 
free  fire  service  exceeds  the  taxes  lost  under 
public  ownership. 

An  interesting  statement  made  in  1907,  by 
the  committee  appointed  by  the  National  Civic 


Municipal  Undertakings  131 

Federation  to  make  an  exhaustive  investiga- 
tion of  the  municipal  ownership  of  utilities, 
shows  that  in  a  comparison  on  an  interest  and 
dividend  basis  the  17,200  services  in  New 
Haven,  Conn.,  and  16,910  services  in  Indian- 
apolis, Ind.,  where  the  water  works  are  pri- 
vately owned,  bore  an  interest  and  dividend 
expense  of  $12.80  and  $9.46,  respectively,  per 
service,  while  under  public  ownership  in  Syra- 
cuse, N.  Y.,  the  interest  expense  for  the  19,159 
services  was  $6.94.  It  is  said  that  the  latter 
would  have  been  less  if  it  had  not  been  neces- 
sary to  discard  $850,000  worth  of  property 
immediately  after  buying  the  plant  fifteen 
years  before.  In  Cleveland  and  Chicago  the 
interest  expense  where  the  works  are  publicly 
owned  was  $2.54  and  $0.47,  respectively,  per 
service.  Syracuse  had,  within  the  fifteen  years, 
paid  off  eleven  per  cent  of  the  indebtedness  on 
its  water  works;  Cleveland,  in  fifty  years,  had 
paid  sixty-three  per  cent;  and  Chicago  had 
paid  ninety  per  cent. 

Gas  Plants. —  Municipal  ownership  of  gas 
works  has  not  been  tried  in  America  to  any 
great  extent.  Perhaps  it  is  because  the  cities 
have  hesitated  to  engage  in  a  service  requiring 
a  much  greater  technical  knowledge  than  the 
supply  of  water  and  a  larger  financial  invest- 
ment than  that  involved  in  the  operation  of 
electrical  plants.    At  any  rate,  it  is  only  in  re- 


132  The  American  City 

cent  years  that  the  municipal  operation  of  gas 
works  has  increased  to  any  extent.  In  1900 
there  were  fifteen  public  plants  in  the  United 
States,  and  in  1906  the  ntimber  had  grown  to 
twenty-five.  The  latest  published  list  in  191 4 
shows  the  existence  of  thirty-one  public  plants, 
which  is  a  much  lower  rate  of  increase  than  in 
the  previous  period.  In  addition,  there  are 
seven  cities  serving  natural  gas,  and  eighty- 
seven  (small  municipalities)  operating  acety- 
lene and  gasoline  plants  for  public  lighting. 

Richmond,  Va.,  with  a  population  of  145,- 
000,  was  one  of  the  first  cities  to  operate  a 
gas  plant.  Beginning  in  1852,  the  profits  that 
have  been  turned  into  the  city  treasury  amount 
to  about  $1,500,000,  which,  however,  may  have 
been  at  the  expense  of  the  depreciation  fund. 
The  present  replacement  value  of  the  plant  is 
about  $1,250,000.  The  net  profits  for  191 2, 
allowing  for  all  items,  such  as  legal  expense, 
interest  and  redemption,  and  $61,250  for  taxes, 
amounted  to  $102,880,  with  a  rate  of  $0.90  for 
light  and  fuel.  The  labor  is  performed  by 
whites,  at  double  the  rate  of  wages  paid  to 
negroes  for  similar  work  in  neighboring  com- 
munities. One  of  the  reasons  for  the  success 
of  this  undertaking  is  that  the  city  govern- 
ment is  considered  good,  and  quite  free  from 
the  spoils  system  and  graft. 

The  experience  of  Philadelphia  makes  a  very 


Municipal  Undertakings  133 

different  story.  Beginning  under  private  cap- 
ital, the  plant  was  originally  administered  by 
a  self -perpetuating  board  of  trustees  appointed 
by  the  city  government,  and  although  their 
administration  became  scandalous  through  pol- 
itics and  bad  management,  it  was  not  found 
possible  to  effect  a  change  before  1887.  The 
plant  suffered  great  deterioration,  the  quality 
of  gas  was  bad,  and  the  price  was  high,  but  the 
councils  refused  to  provide  for  rehabilitation. 
The  situation  was  relieved  by  leasing  the  plant 
to  a  private  company  in  1897  ^o^  ^  period  of 
thirty  years  upon  such  important  conditions  as 
complete  rehabilitation  of  the  plant,  declining 
price,  improved  quality  of  gas,  and  large  an- 
nual cash  payments  to  the  city. 

The  management  of  the  plant  in  Wheeling, 
W.  Va.,  has  also  been  condemned  as  embody- 
ing a  "union  of  all  the  abuses  commonly 
charged  against  municipal  plants  but  rarely 
found  united  to  such  a  degree  in  any  one."  In 
1859,  when  the  plant  was  owned  privately,  the 
people  actually  stopped  using  gas  in  order  to 
compel  a  reduction  of  the  rate.  Their  boycott 
resulted  in  a  reduction  from  $3.50  to  $3.15. 
The  city  bought  the  plant  in  1870  and  during 
the  next  eighteen  years  brought  the  price  down 
to  $0.75. 

The  gas  situation  in  Boston  was  very  cha- 
otic, indeed,  when  the  state  took  a  hand  in 


134  ^^^  American  City 

1905  and  entered  into  practically  a  partner- 
ship arrangement  with  the  company.  This 
called  for  a  share  of  the  profits,  in  the  form 
of  decreased  rates,  and  resulted  in  four  reduc- 
tions of  five  cents  each  from  $1.00  to  eighty 
cents  within  the  two  years  following.  The 
last  reduction  was  voluntary  with  the  company, 
and,  in  addition,  the  market  price  of  its  com- 
mon stock  has  steadily  risen. 

Holyoke,  Mass.,  with  a  population  of  61,000, 
has  been  successful  in  its  operation  of  a  gas 
plant.  A  new  plant,  embodying  a  modern  sys- 
tem, was  added  in  191 3,  which  brought  the 
inventory  up  to  $792,000.  Under  the  Mas- 
sachusetts system  of  uniform  accounting  for 
public  utilities,  which  insists  upon  a  generous 
depreciation  fund,  the  certified  annual  state- 
ment for  19 1 3  shows  a  net  profit  of  $13,- 
542.41,  with  a  price  of  $1.00  per  1,000  cubic 
feet. 

Westfield,  Mass.,  with  a  population  of 
17,500,  is  rather  a  small  city  to  operate  gas 
works.  It  also  owns  and  operates  water  works 
and  an  electric  plant.  The  "  surplus  balance  " 
January,  191 4,  amounting  to  $91,297,  was 
credited  jointly  to  the  gas  and  electric  plants, 
and  presumably  is  the  depreciation  fund.  The 
former  was  inventoried  at  $154,831  and 'the 
latter  at  $124,172,  and  the  net  profits,  except 
depreciation  charges,  for  191 3  were  $14,645 


Municipal  Undertakings  135 

and  $5,971,  respectively.  In  that  year  the  gas 
rate  was  reduced  from  $1.10  to  $1.00  and  the 
electric  rate  for  illumination  was  reduced  from 
ten  cents  to  seven  cents,  with  corresponding 
reductions  for  power. 

Electric  Light  Plants. —  Electrical  engineer- 
ing and  the  manufacture  of  electrical  machines 
and  supplies  have  kept  equal  pace  and  made 
tremendous  strides.  This,  and  the  fact  that  an 
overhead  system  of  wires  is  much  less  expen- 
sive than  cast  iron  gas  mains  laid  underground, 
and  that  electricity  gives  greater  illumination, 
are  some  of  the  reasons  for  the  rapidity  with 
which  municipalities  have  entered  into  the  own- 
ership and  operation  of  electric  plants.  The 
first  plant  was  built  in  1881,  and  in  1902  there 
were  818  publicly  owned  plants;  in  1904 
there  were  927;  and  in  1914  there  were  1,471 
publicly  owned  in  the  United  States  and  175 
in  Canada. 

Prior  to  1889,  sixty-eight,  or  eleven  per  cent 
of  all  the  electrical  plants  established,  were 
owned  by  municipalities.  The  proportion  of 
publicly  owned  plants  between  1889  and  1896 
was  21.2  per  cent;  between  1896  and  1902 
it  was  27.8  per  cent;  and  from  1902  to  191 4 
it  was  28.2  per  cent.  The  proportion  of  pub- 
licly owned  electrical  plants  in  the  various 
classes  of  cities  according  to  the  1902  census, 
and  also  those  privately  owned,  was  as  follows : 


!I36 


The  American  City 


0 

0 
■^0 

00 

0  Ol 

■^0 

©0 

00 

0  > 

(UO 

§§ 

00 

00 

0  0 

5 

"§§ 

oo 

00 

o'-c 

5®- 

®.w 

ItOO 

00 

0  CI 

P»o 

U5<N 

WtH 

tHIO 

LO  OS 

H 

Public 

Number 

672 

123 

13 

6 

4 

818 

Per  cent. 

82.3 

14.9 

1.6 

0.7 

0.5 

100 

Private 

Number 

2,043 

554 

115 

67 

26 

2,805 

Per  cent. 

72.8 

19.8 

4.1 

2.4 

0.9 

100 

It  has  been  practically  impossible  for  the 
very  large  cities  to  obtain  permission  from 
their  respective  legislatures  to  sell  current  to 
private  users,  but  this  has  not  deterred  a  num- 
ber of  them  from  engaging  in  undertakings 
for  public  lighting. 

Chicago's  public  lighting  bill  for  19 13  for 
gas,  gasoline,  and  electrical  illumination  was 
$1,079,766,  of  which  $512,638  was  for  current 
generated  in  the  municipal  plant  and  $69,397 
for  purchased  current.  Because  of  much  dis- 
satisfaction, due  particularly  to  the  refusal  of 
the  local  company  to  make  certain  improve- 
ments, and  the  need  of  more  illumination,  the 
city  undertook  to  do  its  own  lighting  and 
placed  its  first  plant  in  operation  in  1887.  The 
opposition  of  the  private  companies  prevented 
satisfactory  financing  by  interfering  with  the 
sale  of  the  bonds.  This  actually  made  it  im- 
possible for  a  long  time  for  the  City  to  manage 
its  undertaking  with  any  degree  of  economy. 


Municipal  Undertakings  137 

The  system  has  been  steadily  added  to  and  in 
December,  1913,  the  total  original  cost  amount- 
ed to  $7,054,397,  with  a  present  value  of  $4,- 
990,678  and  depreciation  account  of  $2,063,- 
719.  The  cost  per  arc  lamp,  allowing  for  every 
expense,  such  as  depreciation,  taxes,  and  bet- 
terments, was  $56.13,  while  the  rate  paid  to  the 
private  company  for  extra  illumination  was  at 
the  rate  of  $75  per  arc  lamp.  The  legislature 
authorized  the  City  in  1905  to  sell  its  surplus 
current  for  commercial  use  but  it  has  not  yet 
been  able  to  use  the  authorization.  The  plant 
has  been  well  managed,  unaffected  by  politics, 
higher  wages  paid,  and  as  a  result  of  the  pres- 
ent state  of  the  undertaking  the  private  com- 
panies have  been  brought  to  lower  prices. 

Detroit  paid  a  private  company  $240  per  arc 
in  1884.  In  1893  the  price  had  been  reduced 
to  $102.20,  for  a  ten-year  contract,  but  this 
was  still  a  very  high  price.  Two  years  later 
the  city  began  the  operation  of  its  own  plant 
and  within  two  years  reduced  the  cost  below 
$100  per  arc,  including  depreciation  and  lost 
taxes.  In  1905,  on  the  same  basis,  the  cost 
was  $59.34  and  has  constantly  improved.  The 
city  has  not  received  permission  to  sell  to  pri- 
vate users. 

Nashville,  in  1901,  decided  to  force  the  pri- 
vate company  to  reduce  its  rates,  which  were 
$85  per  arc  and  eighteen  cents  per  kilowatt 


138  The  American  City 

hour.  The  charter  provided  for  a  municipal 
street  lighting  plant  but  not  for  the  city  to  sell 
to  private  consumers.  The  mayor  persuaded 
the  legislature  to  grant  such  authority,  where- 
upon the  private  company  reduced  its  rates. 
The  city,  however,  erected  a  plant  sufficient 
for  private  as  well  as  public  needs,  but  has 
contented  itself  with  the  lower  cost  of  public 
lighting  afforded  by  its  own  plant,  and  has 
kept  its  unoperated  capacity  for  private  serv- 
ice as  a  menace  against  high  prices  by  private 
companies. 

Despite  the  fact  that  politics  have  figured 
unduly  in  the  management  of  the  municipal 
plant  in  Allegheny,  Pa.,  a  comparison  of  the 
cost  per  arc  light  with  the  prices  charged  by 
private  companies  in  Pittsburgh,  just  across 
the  river,  shows  that  Allegheny  has  reaped  a 
distinct  gain  by  its  undertaking.  Grand  Rap- 
ids, Mich.,  operates  a  plant  for  public  light- 
ing and  has  reduced  the  cost  to  $56.1 1  per  arc, 
allowing  for  such  items  as  depreciation,  loss 
through  non-taxation,  and  interest  on  invest- 
ment over  bonded  debt.  The  little  city  of 
St.  Joseph,  Mich.,  generates  current  for  125 
arc  lamps  for  public  lighting  by  the  use  of  a 
100  horsepower  producer  gas  engine  and  has 
cut  the  cost  to  $40,  whereas  the  city  formerly 
paid  a  private  company  $96  per  arc  lamp. 

The  majority  of  the  municipal  plants  have 


Municipal  Undertakings  139 

been  undertaken  for  the  purpose  of  supplying 
current  to  private  users  as  well  as  for  the  pub- 
lic needs.  Some  of  the  undertakings  represent 
investments  as  large  as  five  million  dollars, 
and  many  have  developed  a  management  of 
the  most  progressive  type. 

In  Austin,  Texas,  the  municipal  plant  has 
prospered  under  the  city's  commission  govern- 
ment, and  its  efficiency  and  capacity  has  been 
greatly  increased  by  the  completion,  in  19 14, 
of  a  new  dam  for  water  a,nd  power  purposes 
at  a  cost  of  $1,720,000.  Columbus,  Ohio, 
began  the  operation  of  its  plant  in  1898.  There 
has  been  an  over-demand  by  private  users  for 
the  limited  amount  of  excess  current,  and  the 
plant  is  being  extended  in  competition  with  the 
large  privately  owned  plant.  Hannibal,  Mo., 
began  the  operation  of  its  first  plant  in  1886; 
built  a  new  plant;  and  has  just  retired  the  last 
bond.  The  rates  are  reasonable,  with  the  min- 
imum power  rate  extremely  low,  and  the  city 
pays  nothing  for  public  lighting.  After  a  num- 
ber of  years  of  litigation  as  to  the  price  to  be 
paid,  the  city  of  Holyoke,  Mass.,  took  over 
the  plant  of  a  private  corporation  in  1902,  but 
it  was  in  such  a  poor  condition  that  it  was 
practically  necessary  to  reconstruct  it.  The 
rate,  which  at  that  time  was  eighteen  cents 
per  killowatt  hour,  is  unusually  low,  being  six 
cents  flat  for  illumination  and  from  2.1  cents 


140  The  American  City 


to  1.3  cents  for  power,  with  a  sliding  discount 
of  from  twenty  to  fifty-five  per  cent,  according 
to  the  amount  consumed. 

The  company  owning  the  electric  plant  in 
Jacksonville,  Fla.,  fought  the  city's  efforts  to 
establish  a  municipal  plant,  and  even  appealed 
to  the  State  Supreme  Court  after  the  people  had 
voted  for  it.  The  plant  was  built  and  placed 
in  operation  in  1895  ^t  a  cost  of  $76,675, 
with  a  bonded  debt  of  $75,000.  Within  the 
next  eleven  years  the  plant  transferred  to  the 
city  about  $65,000,  after  paying  operating  ex- 
penses, cost  of  improvements,  and  every  dollar 
invested,  and  was  then  inventoried  at  $365,- 
423.  The  rate  charged  by  the  private  plant 
was  twenty-eight  cents,  but  when  the  municipal 
plant  began  with  a  rate  of  seven  cents  the 
company  sold  its  plant  to  the  street  railway 
company,  which  had  to  sell  at  the  municipal 
rate.  The  franchise  for  this  plant  expired 
in  January,  191 1,  but  was  not  renewed,  and 
the  city  has  gone  into  the  business  on  a  much 
larger  scale. 

Of  the  municipal  plant  and  distributing  sys- 
tem in  Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  which  was  built  in 
1892,  the  latest  valuation  is  about  $275,000, 
with  a  bonded  debt  of  $75,000.  The  net  profits 
for  191 3,  allowing  for  all  replacements  and 
five  per  cent  for  depreciation,  amounted  to 
$ii>i33;  the  flat  rate  of  four  and  one-half 


Municipal  Undertakings  141 

cents  is  unusually  low;  and  the  cost  of  public 
lighting  is  about  half  of  the  old  contract  price. 
The  city  is  subjected  to  the  keenest  competi- 
tion by  the  local  street  railway  company,  which 
is  engaged  in  commercial  lighting,  and  which 
has  been  forced  to  sell  at  the  city's  low  rate. 

Marquette,  Mich.,  with  a  population  of  22,- 
000,  and  twenty  per  cent  using  current,  has  a 
highly  developed  undertaking.  A  hydro-elec- 
tric plant  was  built  in  1889  with  a  bond  issue 
of  $60,000.  Nine  years  later  a  new  plant  was 
erected  to  meet  increased  needs  and  the  bonded 
debt  reached  $95,000.  All  of  these  bonds  have 
been  retired,  but  an  issue  for  $70,000  was  made 
in  191 1  to  pay  for  additional  flowage  rights. 
The  plant  is  valued  at  $422,659,  and  the  latest 
annual  earnings,  after  paying  operating  ex- 
penses and  interest,  amounted  to  $40,000.  The 
rates  are  remarkably  low  and  current  is  sup- 
plied to  operate  the  water  works  pumps,  afford- 
ing an  estimated  annual  saving  of  $5,000.  The 
street  railway  company  operates  with  current 
purchased  from  the  city  at  three- fourths  cent 
per  kilowatt. 

A  most  successful  undertaking  is  in  Nor- 
walk,  Conn.,  named  South  Norwalk  until  Oc- 
tober, 191 3.  A  small  plant  for  street  lighting 
was  erected  in  1892  because  of  the  poor  serv- 
ice rendered  by  the  private  company.  It  was 
soon  enlarged  for  commercial  business,   and 


142  The  American  City 

after  numerous  successive  enlargements  now 
represents  a  total  net  investment  of  $203,483. 
All  of  the  bonded  debt  was  retired  in  191 3, 
and  the  undertaking  has  never  cost  the  tax- 
payers a  cent  of  taxes.  The  depreciation  fund 
is  reserved  at  the  rate  of  seven  and  one-half 
per  cent,  two  and  one-half  per  cent  over  the 
state  requirement,  and  the  first  six  months  of 
the  1 9 14  fiscal  year  showed  a  net  profit  of 
$6,000.  Concurrently  industrial  development 
has  been  greatly  stimulated,  bringing  growth 
of  population  and  prosperity. 

For  a  long  time  Pasadena,  Cal.,  sought  re- 
lief from  the  high  rates  and  the  bad  quality  of 
service  of  the  local  privately  owned  plant.  In 
1905  the  people  voted  an  issue  of  bonds  for  a 
municipal  plant.  The  private  corporation 
fought  at  the  polls  and  in  the  courts,  but  the 
city  won,  only  to  find  the  sale  of  the  bonds 
hindered  in  the  local  market.  The  intention 
was  to  do  street  lighting  only,  but  finding  cur- 
rent to  spare  the  city  exercised  its  right  to  sell 
to  private  users  in  1909,  two  years  after  the 
plant  was  placed  in  operation.  The  company's 
old  rate  was  fifteen  cents  per  kilowatt,  which 
was  reduced  to  twelve  and  one-half  cents  when 
the  municipal  plant  was  agitated.  The  city 
began  to  sell  current  at  nine  cents  and  the  com- 
pany immediately  made  a  lower  rate,  and  every 
time  the  city  succeeded  in  arriving  at  a  reduc- 


Municipal  Undertakings  143 

tion  the  company  made  a  further  decrease, 
until  the  city  could  go  no  lower  without  actual 
loss.  The  city  now  claims  that  the  company, 
which  in  1909  consolidated  with  companies 
supplying  thirty  or  more  adjoining  communi- 
ties with  a  large  combined  capital,  is  selling 
below  cost  in  Pasadena  by  reason  of  profits 
made  elsewhere.  The  city  is  finding  the  com- 
petition expensive  and  is  unable  to  meet  the 
company's  present  rate,  and  the  fight  has  been 
carried  into  the  public  prints.  Since  the  plant 
was  built  the  population  has  almost  doubled, 
and  additional  sums  have  been  raised  by  bond 
issues  and  taxation,  together  with  profits,  to 
increase  the  capacity.  It  is  claimed  that  the 
annual  saving  to  light  users  in  lower  rates 
caused  by  the  existence  of  the  plant  is  about 
$200,000,  and  that  if  the  undertaking  can 
make  no  profits,  the  tax  payers  are  away  ahead 
on  the  city's  investment. 

The  Seattle,  Wash.,  municipal  plant  ranks 
with  the  largest  hydro-electric  plants  in  the 
country.  Dissatisfaction  with  the  cost  of  pub- 
lic lighting  supplied  by  the  private  lighting 
company  was  one  of  the  immediate  causes  of 
the  municipal  undertaking.  Construction  be- 
gan in  April,  1902,  and  the  plant  was  ready 
for  business  in  September,  1905.  Additions 
were  voted  before  the  completion,  and  others 
since,  including  new  sites,  dams,  and  equip- 


144  The  American  City 

merit,  have  brought  the  total  investment  up  to 
$5,071,625,  now  valued  at  $4,181,185,  with  a 
depreciation  reserve  fund  of  $890,440.  From 
the  first  the  citizens  have  accorded  loyal  sup- 
port, giving  large  majorities  for  the  numerous 
bond  issues,  two  propositions  for  a  million  dol- 
lars and  over.  When  the  proposal  to  establish 
a  municipal  plant  was  submitted  to  the  people 
in  1902  the  private  companies  reduced  their 
rates  from  twenty  cents  to  twelve  cents. 

The  city  has  made  reductions  in  rates  as  the 
growth  of  consumption  and  increases  of  ca- 
pacity have  permitted,  and  the  private  com- 
panies have  made  numerous  efforts  to  meet  the 
rates.  The  accounting  system  is  in  accordance 
with  the  most  approved  methods,  and  every 
element  of  expense  and  revenue  is  carefully 
classed.  The  depreciation  schedule  is  based 
upon  the  life  of  the  component  parts  of  the 
plant,  and  is  mostly  at  the  rate  of  ten  per  cent. 
The  net  surplus  over  depreciation  and  sinking 
fund  transfers  and  all  other  items  charged 
against  the  $910,477  business  in  191 3  amounted 
to  $242,257,  and  the  total  net  surplus  for  the 
whole  nine  years  amounts  to  $810,100.  This 
has  been  earned  in  the  face  of  keen  competi- 
tion from  two  water-power  companies,  having 
three  steam  auxiliaries  and  practically  unlim- 
ited capital,  and  making  every  possible  effort 
to  win  and  keep  business  away  from  the  mu- 


Municipal  Undertakings  145 

nicipal  plant.  There  seems  to  be  no  ill  will 
between  them,  for  the  municipal  plant  has  a 
number  of  times  carried  a  large  part  of  its 
competitors'  load  in  times  of  accident  and  coal 
shortage. 

Tacoma,  Wash.,  has  an  undertaking  similar 
to  the  Seattle  plant.  The  city  bought  an  old 
steam  plant  in  1893,  but  later  dismantled  it 
and  purchased  current  until  its  new  water- 
power  plant  was  finished  in  1912.  The  ca- 
pacity is  32,000  horse  power,  of  which  10,000 
are  now  being  consumed,  at  a  cost,  including 
depreciation  as  well  as  every  other  item  of 
cost,  except  taxes,  of  .00489  cent  per  kilowatt 
hour;  perhaps  the  lowest  cost  in  the  country, 
Business  is  rapidly  increasing,  and  full  advan- 
tage is  being  taken  of  the  recent  revocation  of 
the  franchise  of  a  private  light  and  power 
company  because  of  its  violation  of  rights. 
The  plant  represents  a  value  of  $3,938,545, 
and  the  profit  over  every  charge  but  deprecia- 
tion and  taxes  for  1913  was  $296,237. 

The  following  table  affords  some  compari- 
son of  a  number  of  municipal  electric  plants 
selected  because  of  the  sizes  of  the  cities  and 
not  because  of  any  definite  knowledge  of  the 
condition  of  the  undertakings.  Because  of  the 
lack  of  uniformity  as  to  the  elements  entering 
into  the  figures  of  cost  per  kilowatt  hour  as 
furnished  by  the  various   undertakings  they 


146 


The  American  City 


MUNICIPAL  ELECT] 


(Statistics  from  Their  An 
Depreciation  dedi 


Population 

Year  plant 

was 
placed  in 
operation 

Power 

by  which 

current 

is  generated 

Rate  per 

Flat 

Light 

Po 

Austin,  Texas 

35,000 

1893 

Steam 

Bay  City.  Mich 

48,000 

1889 

Steam 

Hamilton,  Ohio 

38,000 

1894 

Steam 

Hannibal,  Mo 

22,000 

1886 

Steam 

Holyoke,  Mass 

60,770 

1902 

Steam 
Water  power 

62 

Jamestown,  N.  Y 

35,000 

1892 

Steam 

43^ 

Lansing,  Mich 

40,000 

1892 

4 

Marquette,  Mich 

12,000 

1889 

Water  power 

Pasadena,  Cal 

40,500 

1907 

Steam 

Seattle,  Wash 

304,126 

1905 

Water  power 

South  Norwalk,  Conn. . 

10,000 

1892 

Steam 
Oil  engines 

Tacoma,  Wash 

103,418 

1912 

Water  power 

Taunton,  Mass 

37,000 

1903 

Steam 

Tipton,  Ind 

5,000 

1901 

Steam 

8' 

Troy,  Ohio 

7,000 

1889 

Steam 

7K' 

Wallingford,  Conn .... 

11.000 

1900 

Steam  and 
Water  power 

Westfield,  Mass 

17,500 

1899 

Steam 

7 

»  Discount  allowed. 
'  Sliding  discount. 


Municipal  Undertakings 


147 


JGHTING  PLANTS 


eports  of  1912  and  1913) 
aless  otherwise  noted 


K.  W 

.  Hour 

Number 
of 
cus- 
tomers 

Rate  per 
arc  for 
public 

lighting 

Value  of 

plant  and 

distributing 

system 

Profit 
for  the 
year  as 
shown  » 

Sliding 

Receipts 

Light 

Power 

10  to  7 

8to2>^ 

3,421 

4 

$314,104 

$133,028* 

$193,654 

12to6> 

51^  to  4> 

2,000 

40.00 

200,000 

4 

i 

6to2H 

1,800 

40.00 

350,000 

30,877 

64.615 

8to6« 

5tol.8« 

2,200 

40.00 

182,000 

52,964» 

90,836 

t 

.021  to  .013' 

4,369 

45.00 

871.734 

93,725 

325,684 

* 

4 

1,200 

48.00 

275.000 

20,725 

57.062 

to2H» 

5  to  IH' 

5.240 

50.00 

406.833 

69. 179 » 

152.656 

to  2 

3  tol 

2,615 

45.00 

422,659 

4 

* 

to  3 

4  to  1.2 

6,704 

60.00 

686,193 

4 

t 

tolH 

4  to  .05 

34,000 

41^  K.W. 

4,181,184 

274.659 

910.477 

to  5' 

5  to  31 

1.171 

54.00 

203,483 

27.277» 

71,945 

tol 

.024 to. 0045 

20,000 

60.00 

3,938.545 

296.237' 

597.918 

to9» 

6tolM' 

1,043 

44-46 

362.080 

31,006» 

99.581 

4  to  31 

1,000 

* 

80.000 

' 

4 

4 

4 

1,260 

40.00 

65,850 

3.282 

41,270 

to6» 

5to2> 

1.050 

4 

179,000 

12,916 

45,327 

4  to  2 

1,400 

55.60 

114.100 

5,179 

38.915 

» Depreciation  not  deducted. 
*  Not  reported. 


148  The  American  City 

have  not  been  included  in  the  comparison. 
With  but  one  or  two  exceptions  the  receipts 
and    profits    are    from    annual    reports    for 

1913. 

Street  Railways. —  Street  railways  are  a 
form  of  utility  which  municipalities  in  this 
country  have  hesitated  to  undertake.  Aside 
from  New  York's  peculiar  arrangement  with 
private  companies  to  operate  its  subways  there 
are  only  five  cities  owning  and  operating  street 
railways,  and  in  the  larger  of  these  the  voters 
were  very  backward  about  approving  bond  is- 
sues by  which  existing  charter  authorizations 
could  be  taken  advantage  of  by  those  favoring 
the  undertakings. 

A  small  line  in  Bismarck,  the  capital  of 
North  Dakota,  is  operated  by  current  generated 
in  the  lighting  plant  in  the  capitol.  The  line  is 
one  and  one-half  miles  long  and  operates  one 
car.  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  has  a  single  track  line 
fifteen  miles  long  running  to  the  water  works, 
which  otherwise  would  not  be  easily  reached. 
The  equipment  consists  of  five  motor  and  six 
other  cars,  and  the  power  plant  supplies  light 
to  the  water  department  buildings.  Monroe. 
La.,  with  a  population  of  about  11,000,  owns 
a  street  railway  ten  miles  long  and  operates 
fourteen  cars. 

In  San  Francisco,  in  1896,  the  company 
which  operated  a  line  on  Geary  Street  applied 


Municipal  Undertakings  149 

for  a  renewal  of  its  franchise,  which  was  to 
expire  in  1903.  Various  improvement  asso- 
ciations objected  and  had  the  supervisors  en- 
joined from  taking  action.  A  second  applica- 
tion in  1898  met  the  same  fate,  and  at  the  same 
time  a  municipal  ownership  propaganda  re- 
sulted in  a  new  charter  containing  authority 
for  the  city  to  undertake  public  utilities.  How- 
ever, a  vote  on  the  proposal  to  purchase  and 
to  transform  the  Geary  Street  cable  line  into 
an  electric  road  resulted  against  it. 

The  company  failed  in  a  final  attempt  to 
renew  its  franchise,  although  a  month  before 
its  expiration  another  vote,  in  October,  1903, 
on  the  same  question  failed.  The  company  con- 
tinued to  operate  its  line  under  verbal  agree- 
ment with  the  city  until  May,  1905,  when  the 
supervisors  determined  to  rebuild  the  road 
without  a  bond  issue  and  made  an  initial  ap- 
propriation of  $350,000.  The  city  engineer 
prepared  plans  for  the  work,  but  they  were 
destroyed  by  the  earthquake. 

Two  years  later  the  project  was  renewed, 
and  a  second  appropriation  of  $350,000  having 
been  declared  by  the  courts  to  be  illegal,  the 
voters  were  appealed  to  in  June,  1909,  for  the 
third  time,  but  the  necessary  two-thirds  ma- 
jority was  not  obtained.  However,  a  fourth 
vote,  taken  in  December  of  the  same  year,  re- 
sulted in  seventy-five  per  cent  of  the  voters 


150  The  American  City 

approving  two  bond  issues  for  $1,900,000  and 
$120,000,  respectively. 

The  line  was  placed  in  operation  in  the  latter 
part  of  1 91 2,  and  a  year  later  another  line  was 
acquired.  In  August,  1913,  a  bond  issue  for 
$3^500,000  was  voted  for  extensions,  which 
were  begun  in  April,  191 4.  These  will  provide 
two  main  lines  east  and  west,  with  two  con- 
necting cross  town  lines,  making  a  system  18.7 
miles  long. 

The  first  yearns  operation  of  the  Geary  Street 
line  produced  a  revenue  of  $446,075.  The 
operating  expenses,  which  amounted  to  $291,- 
431,  included  $80,054  for  depreciation  and 
accidents,  based  on  the  standard  allowances  of 
fourteen  per  cent  and  four  per  cent,  respect- 
ively, for  these  items.  Taxes,  charged  at 
$35,454,  included  the  state  and  municipal  fran- 
chise and  Federal  income  taxes,  and  the  munic- 
ipal car  license.  The  item  of  $73,886  for 
interest  on  the  bonded  debt,  together  with  all 
other  expense,  showed  a  net  profit  of  $45,304. 
It  is  intended  that  the  net  profit  shall  meet  the 
sinking  fund  requirements.  The  refunding  is 
due  to  begin  in  191 5,  and  will  require  $101,000 
per  year  for  twenty  years,  and  the  authorities 
claim  that  the  profit  will  easily  reach  that  fig- 
ure, when  the  time  arrives.  Better  service  is 
claimed  as  a  result  of  this  undertaking.  The 
wages  paid  are  a  third  higher  than  private 


Municipal  Undertakings  15 1 

companies  pay,  and  a  shorter  day  is  also  a 
feature. 

The  first  attempt  to  establish  a  municipal 
street  railway  in  Seattle  was  made  in  1906, 
when  a  proposition  to  issue  bonds  for  $4,272,- 
000  was  rejected  by  the  voters,  although  one 
section  of  the  city  was  unusually  incensed  at 
the  service  of  the  street  railway  company. 
This  feeling  grew  and  resulted  in  the  revoca- 
tion of  the  company's  franchise  in  191  o,  and  a 
year  later  a  large  majority,  of  the  voters  ap- 
proved a  bond  issue  for  $800,000  to  begin  the 
construction  of  a  municipal  system.  Four 
miles  of  double  track  and  seven-tenths  of  a 
mile  of  single  track  were  completed  and  placed 
in  operation  on  May  2^,  19 14.  To  complete 
the  municipal  system  as  defined  in  the  statute 
the  line  owned  by  a  company  now  in  the  hands 
of  a  receiver  must  be  acquired,  but  should  the 
negotiations  continue  unsuccessfully  the  city 
proposes  to  parallel  this  line.  The  completed 
line  cost  $379,414,  about  $75,000  per  paved 
double-track  mile,  as  compared  with  the  cost 
of  $133,000  in  San  Francisco.  The  complete 
metallic  transmission  system  was  adopted  in 
view  of  the  amount  of  electrolysis  caused  by 
other  electric  lines  in  the  city.  Power  will  be 
supplied  by  the  great  hydro-electric  plant  of 
the  city's  lighting  department. 

The  system  is  about  to  be  further  enlarged 


152  The  American  City 

by  the  acquisition  of  nine  miles  of  single  track 
constructed  by  a  group  of  capitalists  some  years 
ago  in  the  exploitation  of  a  suburban  property. 
A  landslide  early  put  a  stop  to  the  rather  inter- 
mittent service,  and  the  owners  have  made  a 
present  of  the  road  to  the  city  upon  condition 
that  the  city  conduct  its  operation.  The  finan- 
cial success  of  the  Seattle  road  is  very  specu- 
lative, as  the  section  served  is  not  very  popu- 
lous. To  intimidate  the  citizens,  a  large  trac- 
tion company  has  been  conducting  a  publicity 
campaign  in  the  newspapers  against  further 
invasion  of  the  field,  predicting  failure  of  the 
present  undertaking. 

A  number  of  other  cities  have  considered 
municipal  ownership  as  a  remedy  for  their 
traction  service  problems,  and  of  these  Chicago 
affords  a  striking  example.  Because  of  the  ex- 
cessive over-capitalization  of  the  Chicago  trac- 
tion companies,  the  service  and  rates  of  fare 
had  become  almost  unbearable.  The  people 
turned  to  the  legislature  for  aid  and  in  1903  se- 
cured a  general  law  enabling  cities  of  Illinois 
to  undertake  the  ownership  and  operation  of 
street  railways,  but  the  financial  limitation 
proved  to  be  the  obstacle  to  any  enjoyment  of 
the  privilege,  although  negotiations  were  actu- 
ally conducted  between  the  city  and  the  com- 
panies to  determine  a  basis  for  appraisal  of  the 
properties.    The  members  of  the  council  were 


Municipal  Undertakings  153 

unfriendly  to  the  municipal  ownership  idea, 
but  the  people  felt  differently.  In  1902  a  vote 
upon  the  question  resulted  in  142,826  votes  in 
favor  of  the  idea  and  27,998  against  it,  and 
again,  in  1904,  152,223  voted  for,  and  30,279 
against,  the  proposal  to  endeavor  to  establish 
a  municipal  system.  However,  because  of  a 
court  decision  it  was  impossible  to  finance  the 
purchase  of  the  roads. 

At  an  election  held  in  Detroit  in  April,  191 3, 
eighty-three  per  cent  of  the  votes  cast  declared 
for  municipal  ownership  of  the  traction  system, 
and  a  commission  of  three  is  now  carrying  on 
negotiations  with  the  company.  The  Board  of 
City  Commissioners  of  Pasadena  has  before  it 
a  proposal  for  a  municipal  electric  railway  be- 
tween that  city  and  Los  Angeles,  a  distance  of 
about  ten  miles.  A  survey  has  been  made  and 
a  report  rendered  by  the  engineer.  It  would 
scarcely  be  germane  to  the  subject  to  make 
more  than  a  mention  of  the  fact  that  Cincin- 
nati owns,  but  does  not  operate,  a  standard 
gauge,  interstate  railroad. 

Public  Markets. —  Perhaps  the  oldest  and 
most  common  expression  of  municipal  owner- 
ship is  in  connection  with  public  markets,  and 
this  form  of  utility  has  been  very  highly  devel- 
oped in  some  cities.  The  new  city  market  house 
in  Cleveland  includes  a  public  cold  storage  plant 
containing  lockers.    These  are  rented  by  the 


154  The  American  City 

market  dealers  for  the  preservation  of  their 
perishable  stocks,  and  by  housekeepers  who 
buy  at  wholesale  prices  quantities  of  cold  stor- 
age supplies.  The  voters  of  Austin,  Texas, 
will  be  asked  this  year  to  vote  a  bond  issue  for 
$50,000  to  erect  a  municipal  slaughter  house, 
and  in  Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  a  proposal  to  estab- 
lish a  municipal  milk  plant  is  being  actively  agi- 
tated, largely  for  reasons  of  health.  The  pro- 
priety of  municipal  management  of  such  utili- 
ties will  not  be  questioned  by  many. 


CHAPTER  VII 

HOUSING,    TRANSIT,    AND    LOCATION    OF 
FACTORIES 

THE  business  of  a  large  city  is  in  the  main 
located  near  the  center  of  the  city.  In 
this  district  are  the  office  buildings,  wholesale 
and  retail  stores,  theatres,  hotels,  and  in  some 
cities  a  large  percentage  of  the  manufacturing. 
This  concentration  of  business  occupies  daily 
a  large  number  of  people,  so  large  a  number 
that  but  a  small  proportion  of  them  can  live 
near  enough  to  their  work  to  walk  to  and  from 
it.  Those  living  at  a  distance  require  transit 
lines  as  a  means  of  conveyance. 

/.  Congestion  of  Population 

Two  serious  and  difficult  problems  have  been 
created  by  the  concentration  of  business  in  the 
centers  of  cities.  First,  as  many  people  as  pos- 
sible attempt  to  live  within  walking  distance 
of  their  work.  They  do  this  for  economy  both 
in  money  and  time.  This  crowding  toward  the 
center  produces  what  has  come  to  be  known  as 
congestion  of  population.  The  second  problem 
is  the  difficulty  of  transporting  those  who  are 
compelled  to  live  a  distance  from  their  work 

iSS 


156  The  American  City 

and  must  therefore  ride.  Surface  car  lines  are 
slow  and  require  an  undue  proportion  of  the 
time  of  the  worker.  Rapid  transit  lines  are 
so  expensive  to  build,  with  the  track  capacity 
limited,  that  a  congestion  of  passengers  in  the 
cars  is  necessary  to  make  the  lines  self- 
supporting.  Indecent  crowding  in  the  cars 
is  the  inevitable  result  of  the  heavy  fixed 
charges. 

The  difficulties  may  be  illustrated  by  condi- 
tions in  New  York  City.  They  exist  more 
intensively  there  than  in  any  other  city,  yet  in 
every  large  city  the  same  conditions  are  ap- 
parent, though  in  less  degree  than  in  New 
York.  Below  Twentieth  Street,  west  of  Sev- 
enth Avenue,  and  Fourteenth  Street,  east  of 
that  avenue,  is  a  district  comprising  about 
2,717  acres.  In  this  district  are  located  most 
of  the  office  buildings.  In  this  same  district 
most  of  the  wholehouse  houses  are  located. 
In  addition  to  these  forms  of  business  there 
are  about  14,000  manufactories,  wherein  work 
fully  400,000  persons.  A  large  proportion  of 
these  manual  workers,  for  the  sake  of  econ- 
omy, must  live  within  walking  distance  of  their 
work,  and  they  do  live  within  almost  the  same 
area,  in  a  district  known  as  the  East  Side. 
Here  live  below  Twenty-sixth  Street  about 
600,000  people,  on  1,230  acres,  which  is  an 
average  of  about  508  to  the  acre.     On  some 


Housing  and  Location  of  Factories   157 

blocks,  comprising  not  over  four  acres,  live 
fully  5,000  people. 

The  homes  in  which  they  live  are  called  tene- 
ment houses.  A  house  typical  of  this  district 
has  a  frontage  of  twenty-five  feet,  a  depth  of 
seventy  feet,  has  six  stories,  and  is  without  ele- 
vators. In  such  a  tenement  house  live,  on  an 
average,  about  twelve  families,  many  of  whom 
take  boarders.  The  rent  paid  is  usually  about 
$3  per  room  per  month.  Having  no  other 
place  to  play,  the  children  crowd  the  streets. 
The  streets  being  but  sixty  feet  wide,  are  not 
infrequently  well  covered  by  residents  of  the 
neighborhood  from  building  line  to  building 
line. 

Such  of  these  tenement  houses  as  have  been 
built  since  the  Tenement  House  Law  was 
passed,  have  rooms  with  a  fair  amount  of  light 
and  air.  The  people,  however,  have  no  place 
for  outing  or  recreation  except  the  street  and 
in  hot  weather  the  conditions  are  very  oppres- 
sive. No  green  grass  or  trees  relieve  the  arti- 
ficial surroundings  of  pavements  and  brick 
walls.  Life  under  such  conditions  does  not 
promote  health  or  permit  intellectual  develop- 
ment. Residents  in  these  houses  live  there  by 
compulsion  and  not  by  choice.  They  can  af- 
ford neither  the  time  nor  the  money  demanded 
of  those  who  live  in  the  suburbs. 

Office  helpers  and  workers  who  receive  a 


158  The  American  City 

larger  wage  than  these  East  Side  dwellers  live 
under  better  conditions,  but  these  better  sur- 
roundings are  reached  only  by  transit  lines. 
During  the  year  191 2  the  surface,  elevated,  and 
subway  lines  of  New  York  City  carried  1,680,- 
914,025  passengers.  Nearly  one-half  the  fares 
thus  received  were  paid  by  passengers  going 
toward  the  business  portion  of  the  city.  It  is 
impossible  to  determine  what  proportion  of 
these  passengers  went  daily  to  business  or  work 
in  the  business  section. 

During  some  days  of  heaviest  travel  the  sub- 
way alone  carries  over  1,000,000  passengers. 
In  addition  to  this  rapid  transit  line,  there  are 
nine  elevated  roads  centering  in  the  downtown 
district,  each  carrying  many  thousands.  The 
surface  lines  add  their  thousands  to  these.  The 
people  of  New  York  City  pay  on  an  average 
daily  about  $230,200  for  car  rides.  The  con- 
gestion has  become  so  intense  that  subway  cars 
with  a  capacity  of  about  eighty  passengers  are 
daily  during  rush  hours  compelled  to  crowd  in 
about  150.  But  forty  of  these  can  be  seated, 
so  that  over  a  hundred  in  such  a  crowded  car 
must  stand  in  the  aisles  and  vestibules.  Riding 
under  such  conditions  is  not  only  uncomfort- 
able but  also  unhealthful.  The  close  air  and 
crowding  renders  easy  the  spread  of  infectious 
and  contagious  diseases. 

The  conditions  above  described  are  probably 


Housing  and  Location  of  Factories    159 

not  temporary,  but  rather  in  a  large  degree  a 
necessary  accompaniment  of  subway  transit. 
Subway  construction  is  so  expensive  and  in- 
volves such  a  heavy  fixed  charge  that  a  con- 
gested traffic  is  apparently  necessary  to  pay 
running  expenses  and  interest  upon  the  invest- 
ment. So  long  as  it  is  deemed  necessary  to 
place  the  present  type  of  transit  lines  under 
ground,  these  congested  traffic  conditions  are 
likely  to  exist.  Any  condition  of  transit  which 
makes  travel  uncomfortable,  or  unwholesome, 
tends  to  restrict  travel.  People  will,  so  far  as 
possible,  live  near  their  work  or  within  a  short 
traveling  distance.  Thus  undesirable  transit 
conditions  retard  exodus  from  the  congested 
center. 

2.  Rapid  Transit  a  Relief  for  Congestion 

To  relieve  congestion  at  the  center,  cheap, 
rapid,  and  comfortable  transit  must  be  pro- 
vided. To  provide  such  transit  is  a  serious 
problem.  It  is  an  engineering  problem  of  not 
large  proportions  to  build  a  rapid  transit  line ; 
but  to  finance  such  a  line  in  a  manner  that  will 
enable  the  operation  to  furnish  comfortable 
travel  at  a  fare  less  than  five  cents,  is  a  prob- 
lem which  thus  far  has  not  been  solved.  Rapid 
transit  can  be  operated  on  an  elevated  road, 
but  an  elevated  road,  though  somewhat  less 
expensive  than  a  subway,  is  sufficiently  ex- 


i6o  The  American  City 

pensive  to  require  a  five  cent  fare  to  pay  oper- 
ating expenses  and  fixed  charges.  To  induce 
workmen  to  live  at  a  distance  from  their  work 
will  require  a  fare  less  than  five  cents,  which 
reduced  fare  cannot  be  brought  about  under 
the  customary  methods  of  financing.  A  city 
nearing  the  size  where  rapid  transit  will  be 
required  is  confronted  with  the  problem  of 
either  reducing  the  carrying  charge  of  a  pro- 
posed road  or  else  of  resigning  itself  to  a  con- 
gested and  unwholesome  traffic.  Pittsburgh  is 
contemplating  building  a  subway.  The  city 
has  been  informed  by  competent  engineers  that 
tenement  houses  will  be  required  to  furnish 
sufficient  traffic  to  support  the  line.  A  choice 
must  be  made  either  between  some  cheaper 
form  of  rapid  transit  road,  or  a  cheaper  form 
of  financing  the  project,  or  tenement  houses 
with  acompanying  congestion  of  traffic. 

J.  Influence  of  Character  of  Dwelling 
upon  Citizenship 

As  a  city  grows,  its  housing  and  its  transit 
problems  intensify.  To  house  many  people  on 
a  small  area  is  very  objectionable,  even  though 
regulations  compel  reasonably  acceptable 
houses.  For  health  and  to  develop  neighbor- 
hood sympathies  and  civic  interest  a  dwelling 
which  may  be  called  a  home  is  needed.  A  flat, 
one  of  twenty- four  of  similar  character  within 


Housing  and  Location  of  Factories    i6i 

the  same  walls,  stimulates  little  home  feeling 
and  tends  to  estrangement  from,  rather  than 
familiarity  with,  neighboring  dwellers.  Pride 
in  the  home  and  a  sense  of  attachment  can  be 
developed  only  by  dwellings  which  to  some 
extent  are  set  apart  from  other  dwellings  —  a 
house  with  space  about  it. 

The  finer  virtues,  loyalty  and  self-sacrifice, 
which  are  fundamental  qualities  of  good  citi- 
zenship, are  products  of  the  home  with  its  at- 
tachment. For  self-preservation  the  city  and 
the  state  must  develop  and  preserve  the  home. 
With  the  growth  of  cities  this  becomes  a  very 
serious  problem.  How  people  may  have  homes 
in  large  cities  is  a  question  which  must  have 
an  answer.  Model  tenement  house  laws  will 
provide  light  and  air  but  not  homes.  Rapid 
transit,  by  making  accessible  large  territories, 
will  make  possible  home  building,  providing 
such  transit  can  be  furnished  at  a  fare  less  than 
five  cents. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  EFFECT  OF  THE  CITY  UPON   ITS  CITIZENS 

CITIES  have  had  an  unprecedented  growth 
since  about  1870.  At  that  period  in  the 
United  States  about  20.9  per  cent  of  the  pop- 
ulation lived  in  cities  of  a  population  of  8,000 
and  over.  According  to  the  United  States 
Census  of  19 10  the  above  percentage  has  been 
increased  to  38.8.  Population  is  growing 
much  more  rapidly  in  cities  than  in  country 
districts. 

Does  this  augur  for  good  or  for  ill?  Will 
better  or  wiser  citizens  be  produced  because 
more  are  reared  in  cities  than  formerly? 
These  are  questions  of  prime  importance. 

J.  Inheritance  of  Good  and  Bad  Traits 

It  has  been  established  beyond  reasonable 
doubt  that  physical  and  mental  traits  are  trans- 
mitted from  parent  to  offspring.  Parents 
strong  in  body  or  mind  will  transmit  to  their 
children  their  dominant  traits.  Likewise  those 
weak  in  body  or  mind  will  produce  children 
with  like  weaknesses.  Mental  defectiveness  or 
feeble  mindedness  is  now  recognized  as  a  de- 
162 


Effect  of  City  Upon  Its  Citizens      163 

-^^r" 

fective  strain  that  transmits  to  its  offspring  its 
weakened  mental  characteristics.  Mental  and 
moral  deficiencies  of  lesser  degree  are  prob- 
ably likewise  inherited. 

These  more  or  less  well  recognized  laws  of 
heredity  can  be  traced  most  distinctly  in  re- 
gions where  the  inhabitants  have  been  confined 
to  a  limited  territory  for  a  long  period  by  some 
natural  barriers,  such  as  mountains  or  sur- 
rounding seas.  People  living  in  valleys  sur- 
rounded by  high  mountains  or  upon  islands 
incline  to  intermarry  generation  after  genera- 
tion, thus  perpetuating  and  emphasizing  any 
physical  or  mental  weaknesses  which  may  have 
been  inherent  in  the  original  inhabitants  of 
those  districts.  The  strong  and  venturesome 
tend  to  emigrate  from  such  isolation,  leaving 
behind  those  less  fit.  Thus,  after  a  time,  in 
these  isolated  regions  there  remains  largely  an 
enfeebled  race.  Such  conditions  are  now  mani- 
fest in  some  of  the  restricted  valleys  of  the 
Adirondacks,  the  Catskills,  and  the  Ramapo 
Mountains. 

Inbreeding  to  some  extent,  though  in  a  very 
much  less  degree,  occurs  in  country  districts 
limited  by  no  natural  barriers.  Of  recent  times 
good  highways  and  railroads  have  made  shift- 
ing from  place  to  place  easy,  thus  greatly 
diminishing  the  tendency  to  intermarry.  Even 
with  such  means  of  intercommunication  the 


164  The  American  City 

tendency  in  country  districts  to  marry  outside 
of  race  lines  is  not  great. 

2.  Mixing  of  Races  in  Cities 

Some  social  students  believe  that  the  product 
of  a  mixed  race  is  stronger  than  either  com- 
ponent. It  is  believed  that  the  children  of 
parents  of  different  races  are  likely  to  be 
stronger  than  either  parent.  Whether  or  not 
this  belief  is  well  founded  has  not  been  fully 
confirmed.  Those  who  hold  to  this  theory  look 
to  cities  as  great  mixing  pots  wherein  races 
mingle,  intermarry,  and  produce  new  races, 
and  they  believe  that  such  results  are  highly 
to  be  desired.  True  it  is  that  in  the  cities  the 
races  merge,  and  even  though  the  offspring 
may  not  be  stronger  than  the  component  races, 
yet  their  union  breaks  down  race  prejudices 
and  makes  for  peace  and  progress.  Not  the 
least  of  the  results  of  the  commingling  of 
people  in  cities  is  the  opportunity  to  choose 
mates  from  new  strains.  Weaknesses  of 
body  and  mind  by  such  crossings  are  lessened. 
Defective  mindedness  under  such  conditions 
probably  tends  to  decrease  rather  than  in- 
crease. 

In  the  larger  cities  the  most  talented  con- 
gregate, drawn  by  opportunites  to  learn  and 
to  produce.  Talent  in  one  stimulates  talent  in 
others.     The  city  becomes  an  arena  of  intel- 


Effect  of  City  Upon  Its  Citizens     165 

lects,  wherein  contests  are  waged  not  unlike 
games  for  athletes.  Where  the  most  people 
live  the  most  is  to  be  learned  about  people; 
here  is  manifested  in  greatest  degree  the  de- 
fects in  working  and  housing  conditions;  dis- 
ease in  its  many  forms  appears  and  must  be 
controlled ;  such  problems  call  forth  the  social 
worker  and  the  student  of  medicine  and  sur- 
gery. Much  of  the  best  in  all  lines  of  knowl- 
edge and  effort  is  produced  in  cities. 

J.  The  City  Calls  Forth  the  Best  and  the 
Worst 

Though  the  city  calls  forth  the  best  it  is 
held  by  some  likewise  to  call  forth  the  worst. 
Some  persons  feel  that  all  forms  of  sin  find 
their  fullest  expression  in  the  cities.  This  may 
be  true;  that  which  calls  forth  the  best  tends 
to  call  forth  the  worst.  Intensity  of  life  may 
produce  either  the  best  or  the  worst  according 
to  the  direction  that  is  given  to  the  intensified 
efforts.  But  virtue  is  something  active  and  not 
passive;  something  produced  by  resistance,  by 
overcoming.  If  temptation  be  greatest  in  the 
city,  virtue  may  also  be  greatest — developed 
by  victories.  Virtue  may  be  moral  or  intel- 
lectual. Cities  furnish  conditions  which  may 
and  should  produce  the  greatest  characters, 
characters  which  are  both  morally  and  intel- 
lectually strong. 


1 66  The  American  City 

4.  The  City  Stifles  the  Mind  of  the  Child 

Unfortunately,  the  conditions  in  cities  which 
may  produce  the  best  for  a  matured  intellect 
may  at  the  same  time  dwarf  the  youthful  mind. 
The  child  in  the  city  is  surrounded  by  the  arti- 
ficial, by  a  landscape  of  things  man  produced, 
pavements  and  brick  walls.  Whether  in  or 
out  doors  his  sensations  come  to  eye  and  ear 
from  artificial  things.  His  attention  is  con- 
stantly distracted  from  without.  He  cannot  get 
away  from  his  world  of  man-made  things  by 
day  or  by  night. 

Strength  comes  from  within  and  not  from 
without.  One  is  not  competent  to  solve  things 
outside  until  he  has  attempted  to  and  has  to 
some  extent  solved  things  within  himself.  The 
city  child  is  seldom  or  never  alone.  He  thinks 
of  material  things  because  these  things  are 
pressing  upon  him  without  intermission.  He 
has  no  opportunity  to  retire  within  himself. 
The  solutions  he  is  called  upon  to  make  are  the 
relation  of  things  to  things  rather  than  of  his 
relation  to  his  world. 

The  country  child,  on  the  other  hand,  is  sur- 
rounded by  nature,  a  part  of  which  he  is,  and 
the  relation  he  bears  to  it  needs  a  personal 
explanation.  For  this  explanation  he  seeks. 
In  the  home  he  is  alone,  interrupted  by  none 
of  the  many  things  that  distract  the  child  of 


Effect  of  City  Upon  Its  Citizens     167 

the  city.  By  such  introspection  he  develops  a 
habit  of  thought  or  a  point  of  view  which  is 
fundamental  to  right  thinking.  His  habit  of 
mind  is  to  solve  relations  and  to  understand. 
With  this  viewpoint  or  habit  of  thought  he  is 
thrown  into  the  struggle  of  life,  and  it  matters 
little  where  his  lot  is  cast  or  what  his  calling 
or  profession  may  be,  he  continues  to  attempt 
to  solve  and  understand  relations.  This  no 
doubt  in  quite  a  measure  accounts  for  the  fact 
that  the  man  reared  in  the  country  or  small 
town  so  frequently  takes  a  leading  part  in  the 
complex  life  of  our  large  cities. 

The  city  seems  to  be,  in  a  large  degree,  a 
consumer  rather  than  a  producer  of  initiative 
and  fertility  of  thought.  If  this  be  so,  is  it 
an  inherent  defect  of  the  city  or  is  it  due  to 
the  type  of  city  we  build?  So  long  as  the  city 
immerses  its  citizens  from  childhood  to  man- 
hood in  sounds  and  sights  of  artificial  things 
initiative  will  be  stifled.  The  child  needs  some- 
thing other  than  paved  streets  and  jarring 
noises.  He  needs  "the  out  of  doors"  where 
grass  and  trees  and  birds  and  moon  and  stars 
suggest  a  creator  other  than  man;  objects  that 
suggest  a  relation  to  be  solved  other  than  that 
of  things  to  things.  The  child  can  get  this  in 
the  suburb  of  any  city,  but  not  in  the  paved 
and  brick  enclosed  mart  where  business  is 
carried  on. 


i68  The  American  City 

The  city  as  at  present  built,  with  factories  at 
the  center  and  with  inadequate  and  expensive 
transit,  compels  most  of  the  children  to  live 
where  nature  cannot  be  allowed  to  exist  be- 
cause of  the  demands  of  business.  The  busi- 
ness district  must  exist;  business  is  the  main 
reason,  for  the  city,  but  people  should  not  need 
to  live  adjoining  or  near  to  where  business  is 
carried  on.  There  is  nothing  in  the  nature  of 
commerce  or  manufacturing  necessitating  the 
workers  to  live  in  the  neighborhood  of  their 
work.  They  live  there  because  they  cannot  live 
elsewhere.  They  cannot  live  elsewhere  be- 
cause of  the  lack  of  rapid,  adequate,  and  cheap 
transit. 

The  city  furnishes  great  opportunities  to  the 
adult  who  comes  to  it  with  a  live  imagination 
and  initiative ;  the  child  mind  it  tends  to  stifle 
and  dwarf.  The  handicap  it  places  upon  the 
child  must  be  removed  if  the  city  is  to  con- 
tribute its  share  to  government  and  civilization, 
a  share  represented  by  about  one-half  of  the 
total  population.  The  child  in  the  city,  if  pos- 
sible, must  be  given  the  training  afforded  by 
the  contact  with  nature  enjoyed  by  the  country 
child.  Such  living  conditions  cannot  be  brought 
about  in  the  city  without  either  transit  facili- 
ties which  will  enable  parents  to  live  in  subur- 
ban districts  or  the  alternative  of  removing 
factories  to  outlying  areas.     This  freeing  of 


Effect  of  City  Upon  Its  Citizens      169 

the  child  is  one  of  the  most  pressing  problems 
of  the  modern  city. 

5.  Something  More  Than  Parks  and 
Playgrounds  Needed 

Great  emphasis  has  been  laid  on  the  neces- 
sity for  parks  and  playgrounds.  These  are 
especially  necessary  in  the  present  form  of  city. 
People  confined  to  brick  walls  and  pavements 
must  have  an  occasional  relief  afforded  by 
open  spaces.  Such  relief  is  largely  palliative 
and  replaces  in  but  a  small  measure  that  which 
is  afforded  by  homes  set  apart  arid  surrounded 
by  nature's  green.  People  crowded  together 
in  tenement  houses  rarely  get  acquainted  and 
lose  in  quite  a  measure  their  neighborly  sense. 
On  neighborly  feeling  is  based  civic  interest 
and  responsibility.  Disregard  for  the  neighbor 
is  likely  to  breed  disregard  of  the  obligations 
of  citizenship.  A  person  with  neighbors  is  in- 
clined to  take  an  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the 
neighborhood.  The  neighborhood  is  but  part 
of  a  larger  whole,  a  larger  government  which 
controls  the  affairs  of  the  smaller  community. 
Thus  the  larger  government  is  a  matter  of  con- 
cern to  the  neighborhood  and  to  the  neighbor. 

To  develop  citizens  with  initiative,  imagina- 
tion, force,  public  spirit,  and  altruism  the  city 
must  be  composed  of  neighborhoods.  This 
means  the  city  must  be  scattered  and  divided 


170  The  American  City 

into  settlements  or  suburbs  wherein  living  con- 
ditions can  more  nearly  approach  those  of  the 
small  town.  Such  conditions,  however,  can- 
not be  brought  about  without  the  removal  of 
factories  to  the  outskirts  and  the  building  of 
rapid  transit  which  will  speedily  transport 
workers  from  these  neighborhoods  to  the  cen- 
tral part  of  the  city  where  much  of  the  work 
of  the  city  must  be  carried  on. 

6.  Removal  of  Factories 

The  solution  which  seems  to  offer  the  great- 
est promise  is  the  removal  of  work  or  factories 
away  from  the  center  of  cities  to  outlying  ter- 
ritory where  homes  may  be  built  within  walk- 
ing distance.  If  the  central  portion  of  cities 
could  be  devoted  to  office  buildings,  hotels, 
theatres,  and  other  public  buildings,  and  the 
outer  portions  to  factories,  many  problems 
would  be  solved  which  at  present  are  very  per- 
plexing. The  utilization  of  the  periphery  of 
the  city  for  homes  would  reduce  land  values 
in  the  center,  thus  making  it  possible  to  furnish 
more  commodious  quarters  for  those  who  are 
compelled  to  live  in  the  inner  zone ;  on  the  out- 
skirts could  be  built  single  family  houses  which 
would  largely  eliminate  the  housing  problem. 
The  location  of  nearly  all  homes  near  the  places 
of  work  would  make  simple  the  transit  prob- 


Housing  and  Location  of  Factories    171 

lem;  better  housing  and  working  conditions 
would  promote  better  health  and  thereby  reduce 
the  problem  of  public  charity  and  hospitals. 

This  ideal  solution  is  somewhat  visionary. 
Factories  will  locate  in  the  outskirts  of  cities 
only  in  a  limited  degree,  and  it  is  improbable 
that  constitutional  laws  will  or  can  be  made  to 
compel  them  to  so  locate.  It  is  well,  however, 
to  diagnose  our  difficulty  even  though  we  can- 
not apply  a  wholly  effective  remedy.  Know- 
ing what  will  bring  relief  will  direct  our  ener- 
gies in  the  proper  channel  and  the  acuteness  of 
our  difficulties  will  be  lessened  by  partial 
solutions. 

It  is  needless  to  urge  factory  owners  to  move 
to  the  outskirts  until  such  a  move  can  be  made 
with  economic  safety.  They  must  have  freight 
and  express  facilities  of  a  speed  and  frequency 
that  will  enable  them  to  deliver  orders  to  the 
trading  center  of  the  city  on  very  short  notice; 
they  must  have  connection  with  several  trunk 
line  railroads  so  as  to  obviate  overcharging  or 
discrimination  in  freight  rates ;  they  must  have 
not  only  an  abundant  local  labor  supply  but 
must  also  be  near  enough  to  a  larger  supply, 
which  may  be  drawn  upon  in  case  of  a  strike. 
The  outskirts  of  few  cities  furnish  all  these 
conditions.  They  are  conditions  which  should 
be  worked  for,  and  when  secured  the  manufac- 
turer will  voluntarily  desert  the  central  part  of 


172  The  American  City 

the  city  for  the  open  territory  where  he  can 
erect  commodious  buildings  on  cheap  land. 

The  housing  and  congestion  problems  are 
thus  dependent  upon  a  solution  of  the  transit 
problems,  and  the  removal  of  factories  to  the 
periphery  of  cities.  These  in  turn  are  de- 
pendent upon  a  method  of  financing  which  will 
reduce  the  capital  charge  of  passenger  and 
freight  lines. 

The  removal  of  factories  and  adequate  and 
cheap  transit  thus  become  fundamental  prob- 
lems of  the  large  city,  and  on  the  solution  of 
these  rest  many  of  the  pressing  problems  of 
poverty,  housing,  health,  playgrounds,  and 
civic  progress. 


REFERENCES 

Bruere,  Henry.  The  New  City  Government.  D.  Ap- 
pleton  &  Co.,  New  York.     1913. 

Cleveland,  F.  A.  Municipal  Administration.  Long- 
mans, Green  &  Co.,  New  York.     1909. 

Dawson,  W.  H.  Municipal  Life  and  Government  in 
Germany.     Longmans,  Green  &  Co.     1914, 

Deming,  H.  E.  Government  of  American  Cities.  G.  P. 
Putnam's  Sons,  New  York.     1909. 

Eaton,  D.  B.  Government  of  Municipalities.  Lemcke 
&  Buechner,  New  York.     1899. 

Fairlie,  J.  A.  Essays  in  Municipal  Administration. 
The  Macmillan  Company,  New  York.  1908.  Munic- 
ipal Administration,    llie  Macmillan  Company.    1910. 

GoODNOw,  F.  J.  City  Government  in  the  United  States. 
The  Century  Company,  New  York.  1904.  Municipal 
Government.      The    Century    Company.      1909. 

Howe,  F.  C.  The  British  City:  The  Beginning  of 
Democracy.  Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  New  York. 
1907.  The  City:  The  Hope  of  Democracy.  Charles 
Scribner's  Sons.  1906.  The  Modern  City  and  Its 
Problems.    Charles  Scribner's  Sons.     1915. 

MuNRO,  W.  B.  Bibliography  of  Municipal  Govern- 
ment. Harvard  University  Press,  Cambridge.  1915. 
The  Government  of  American  Cities.  The  Macmil- 
lan Company.     1913. 

Pollack,  H.  M.  and  Morgan,  W.  S.  Modern  Cities. 
Funk  and  Wagnalls  Company,  New  York.     1913. 

RowE,  L.  S.  Problems  of  City  Government.  D.  Ap- 
pleton  &  Co.    1908. 

Wilcox,  D.  F.  Great  Cities  in  America:  Their  Prob- 
lems and  Government.  The  Macmillan  Company. 
1910. 

Zueblin,  C.  American  Municipal  Progress.  The  Mac- 
ihillan   Compan.     1902. 


INDEX 

Art  galleries,  112 

Audit  and  control  of  expense,  59-61 

Barter,  5-8 

Board  of  control  of  Cleveland,  32 

"Board  system"  of  cities,  31,  32 

Boston  and  its  government,  28-30;  building  provisions, 

89;  school  board,  96 
Budget,  the  city,  47,  54,  55 

Centralization  of  power,  32;  of  responsibility,  39 

Character,  effect  of  housing  on,  160,  161 

Charity  institutions,  71-73 

Charters  of  cities,  20 

Child,  care  for  its  health  in  schools,  118,  119;  city  stifles 
the  mind  of  the,  166-169 

Chicago  and  its  government,  23-25;  franchise  referen- 
dum, 53;  parks  and  playgrounds,  85;  school  boards, 
95,  96;  schools  for  blind  children,  115 

City  councils,  37-39 

City,  the  early,  4;  expenditures  of,  42,  43,  53-62;  effect 
of  on  its  citizens,  162-172;  finances  of  the,  41-62; 
Manager  Plan  of  government,  35-37;  reason  for 
the,  5;  growth  of  the,  162;  race  mixing  in  the,  164, 

165 
Cleveland,  franchise  referendum,  53 ;  school  board,  97 
Commission  form  of  city  government,  33-35 
Congestion  of  population,  155-161 
Conference  committee  of  St  Paul,  32 
Contagious  diseases,  75-78 
Council,  the,  37-39 
County  expenditures,  41 
Curriculum,  school,  98-100 

Dayton,  Ohio,  and  the  city  manager  plan,  36 
Defective  and  sub-normal  children,  114-116 
Departmental  expenses,  58 
Direct  property  tax,  43-45 ;  evasion  of,  44,  45 

175 


176  Index 


Education  and  instruction,  92-119;  Federal  Bureau  of,  98 

Electric  light  plants,  135-147 

Elevators,  71 

Evening  schools,  107-110 

Executive  committee  of  Portland,  Ore.,  ZZ 

Expenditures  of  cities,  42,  43,  53-62 

Factories,   housing,   transit  and   location,   155-161,   170- 

172;  regulation  of,  83,  84;  removal  of,  170,  171 
Finances,  41-62 

Fire  protection,  64-67;  fire  losses,  66 
Flies  and  mosquitoes,  78 
Food  inspection,  74-77 
Franchises,  51,  52 

Galveston  and  its  commission  government,  33-35 
Gas  plants,  131-135 
Governmental  cities,  14,  15 
Government  of  cities,  16-40 

Health  protection,   74-84 ;   moral,   87 ;   aesthetic,  88-91 ; 

care  of  school  children,  118,  119 
Heredity,  162-164 
High  schools,  102-104 
Housing  problems,  155-160 

Income  of  cities,  43-53 
Individual,  rights  of  the,  16,  17 
Inheritance,  good  and  bad  traits,  162-164 
Inspection  service,  70,  71 

Labor  protection,  81-84 

Lectures,  public,  no 

Legislative  rule  of  cities,  17-21 

Levying  taxes,  process  of,  46-49 

Libraries,  110-112 

Licenses,  49,  50 

Lighting  streets,  67,  68 

Location  and  purpose  of  cities,  1-15 

Lockport,  N.  Y.,  and  City  Manager  Plan,  35 


Manual  training  schools,  105 
Manufacturing  centers,  9-12 
Markets,  public,  153,  154 
Mayor,  the,  and  the  city,  32 
Mining  cities,  12,  13 


Index  177 


Municipal  government,  powers  of,  17-21 ;  forms  of, 
30-37;  lighting  plant  statistic  charts,  146,  147;  owner- 
ship, 125-153;  undertakings,  120-153 

Museums,  112 

New  York  City  and  its  government,  21,  23;  expendi- 
tures, 43;  tax  deception  in,  44;  tax  assessment,  46, 
48,  49;  rentals  and  franchises,  52;  budget  making,  54; 
audit  and  control  of  expenditures,  59,  61 ;  City  Record, 
62;  police,  64;  fire  protection,  66;  street  lighting,  68; 
traffic  regulation,  69;  street  obstruction,  70;  care  of 
poor,  72;  health  department,  75,  79;  Central  Park,  84; 
playgrounds,  85-87 ;  building  provisions,  89,  90,  91 ; 
board  of  education,  96;  evening  schools,  108,  109; 
public  lectures,  no;  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art, 
112;  zoological  gardens,  113;  Museum  of  Natural 
History,  113;  care  of  sub-normal  children,  119;  tene- 
ment congestion  in,  156,  157,  172 

New  York  state  labor  laws,  82-84 

Parks  and  playgrounds,  84-87;  need  of  more  than  these, 

169,  170 
Pensions,  73 

Permanent  improvements,  58,  59 

Philadelphia  and  its  government,  25-27 ;  school  board,  96 
Police  patrol,  63,  64 
Poor,  caring  for  the,  71-73 
Population,  congestion  of,  155- 161,  172 
Portland,  Ore.,  executive  committee  of,  33 
Property,  taxation  of  43-49;  protection  of,  63-67 
Prostitution,  88 

Protection  of  property,  life,  health,  63-91 
Public  markets,  153,  154 
Public  service  commissions,  124 
Public-service  corporations,  122-126 
Publicity  and  expenditure,  61,  62 
Public  utilities,  problems  of,  120-123;  public  and  private 

ownership  of,  126-153 


Race  mixing  in  cities,  164,  165 
Rapid  transit,  159,  160,  172 
Rentals,  50-52 

Rural  community  finances,  41 
Rural  schools,  93 


178  Index 


School  boards,  94-98;  state  boards,  97,  98 

Schools,  rural,  93;  city,  94-119;  curriculum,  98-100; 
teachers,  loi,  102;  high  schools,  102-104;  children, 
numbers  and  attendance,  104;  vocational,  104-107; 
evening,  107-110;  technical  education,  117;  health  pro- 
tection, 118,  119 

Sewage,  74 

Single  tax,  45 

Social  centers,  13,  14 

State,  the,  and  school  legislation,  97,  98;  regulation  of 
public-service  corporations,  123-126 

Staunton,  Va.,  and  the  City  Manager  Plan,  35 

Street,  lighting,  67,  68;  obstruction,  69,  70;  signs,  70 

Street  railways,  148-153 

Street  railway  franchises,  53 

St.  Louis  and  its  government,  27,  28;  school  board,  96 

St.  Paul,  conference  committee  of,  32 

Sumpter,  S.  C,  and  the  City  Manager  Plan,  35,  36 

Taxes,  direct  property,  43-45 ;  levying,  46-49 

Teachers,  school,  loi 

Technical  education,  117 

Tenement  houses,  80,  81 ;  in  New  York  City,  156,  157 

Town  meeting  plan,  ;i7 

Traffic  regulation,  68,  69 

Transit,  155-160,  172 

Utilities,  public,  problems  of,  120-123 

Vocational  education,  104-107 

Washington,  building  provisions,  90 

Water  works,  129-131 

Working  conditions  regulation,  81-84 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  116,  117 

Zoological  gardens,  113 


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